Move over Hulk, Ben Grimm, and even Arnold. . .

There’s a new muscle-bound beast roaming the hillsides - Belgium Blue Cattle to be exact. . .

Genetically bred to have double the amount of normal muscle a cow has these bovine beasts are absolutely massive.  You simply have to see them to understand. Take a peak. . .

(Just in case you can’t view the video - here’s a picture of a Belgium Blue)

Traditionally, controlled breeding has been a very useful thing.  As a result humankind has been able to aid the process of creating healthier animals, better quality animals for consumption, limit diseases and/or other ailments, and even develop breeds for uniqueness.

Bred to produce more poundage of meat, the Belgium Blue Cow breeding process (and others) starts to raise some serious questions- questions that have only been wrestled with for a few decades - when humans began to directly manipulate the DNA of animal, as opposed to just cross-breeding.  This human intervention in DNA science is most commonly called “genetic engineering.”

 The issue with genetic engineering is that in order to better something, we have the equal opportunity to create something much worse than we ever expected.  On a more common level, when engineering DNA sometimes mutations occur ; these mutations can result in increase vulnerability to diseases, and those diseases can then be spread to other organisms.  Livestock is an easy example to think of because they are grown in mass and often genetically engineered for “optimal” and fast growth.  Think of all the times companies have had to re-call chicken, pork or beef products!

 Yet if we follow this path, it ultimately leads us to such possibilities as human genetic engineering and human cloning (which has already been done to animals).

Are we ready for the repercussions of genetic engineering gone wrong on humans?  Are humans meddling in something that in the end is too complex for us too handle? Are the benefits greater than the pitfalls, because as we know, advancement does come with them?

The answers are not easy and the lines are gray. . .In the end, whatever our choices are, may we not be prideful in remembering our own limitations.

- IgniteTheMind

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