Killing Nature to Save It: Conservation Science, Biotechnology, and Ethical Extermination

There is a deep tension within conservation: The field aims to protect the well-being of flora, fauna, and ecosystems, but often goes about doing this by mass-killing invasive animals. Into this picture comes biotechnology, a field of research that engages with modifying the fundamental building blocks of life. Biotech, and in particular suppression gene-drives, seem to promise win-win solutions that allow us to painlessly and gently remove invasive species from ecosystems. While there is reason to be optimistic about the potential of these emerging conservation technologies, this paper encourages caution: genetic technologies come with their own set of risks and ethical issues. In particular, gene-drives have the potential to not remove, but transform harms, shifting them back onto native species, or turning them from one sub-type of harm into another. These harms can be clearly seen if we more carefully articulate both where these harms occur, and how they are modified by other factors like speed and efficacy. As such, while there is reason to pursue these technologies from an animal ethics perspective, here I argue for more careful analysis from a harms perspective.