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GE Animal Trials Finally End in New Zealand After 25 Years of Suffering


GE animal trials  visual media

After a quarter century of gruesome experimentation, New Zealand’s last genetically engineered - GE animal trials have come to an end. The Soil & Health Association and GE Free NZ say the closure of AgResearch’s Ruakura facility marks the end of an era defined by animal suffering, failed science, and ethical neglect. Their meta-report reveals that from 2000 to 2024, hundreds of cows, goats, and sheep were subjected to GE and gene-editing trials that produced no commercial benefit - only abortions, deformities, and mass euthanasia.




The findings paint a bleak picture of science detached from empathy and only gene-edited “climate-smart” cattle born blind, tailless cows that could barely walk, and goats and sheep engineered as pharmaceutical bioreactors only to die prematurely. The Ruakura facility recorded 85–99 percent spontaneous abortion rates and 58 offal pits for animal disposal


For advocates, this is not just closure but a moral reckoning. They warn the proposed Gene Technology Bill could open the door to such cruelty again. As Charles Hyland of Soil & Health put it: “Animals must not be used as test subjects for human hubris again. The future lies in organic and ethical innovation.”



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