disenhancement

English

Noun

disenhancement (plural disenhancements)

1. A genetic modification of an oprganism that removes a capability such as sight or the capacity to feel pain.
   • 2021 April 29, Bernice Bovenkerk, Jozef Keulartz, Animals in Our Midst: The Challenges of Co-existing with Animals in the Anthropocene, page 540:

     It seems clear that taking away horns can count as a disenhancement in the parasite environment, since the change would result in decreased welfare, but not in the parasite-free environment, since the change would be welfare-neutral.

   • 2020 March 6, Adam Shriver, Andrew Fenton, L. Syd M Johnson, editors, Neuroethics and Nonhuman Animals, Springer International Publishing, page 136:

     Some suggest that disenhancement is relative to the capacities an organism "ought" to have, where that notion could be cashed out in different ways (e.g. the "normal" capacities of a member of a species).

   • 2018 March 5, Jonathan Latimer, “Should We Genetically “Disenhance” Animals on Factory Farms to Improve Their “Welfare”?”, in United Poultry Concerns‎^[1]:

     So, disenhancement promises to reduce suffering in factory-farmed animals by removing their capacity to feel pain caused by their terrible environment.