[Jimbee (OP)]

Concerning meat production, and animal medical experimentation (esp. for serious human diseases), what if. What if the animals were selectively bred to all have Congenital insensitivity to pain (CIP), and soft restraints were used so they didn't injure themselves? They could also be bred to be easy-going and happy all the time. And have frequent breaks. Then they'd feel no pain.

So what would be the problem then?

[Petrochemicals]

We could genetically engineer them so they had no brains and then in the case of a cow pump into the stomach a mixture of grass slurry all the while maintaining them on a menu of hormones to promote organ function.

[alancalverd]

Just occasionally, a nugget surfaces from the general dross. Interesting and possibly feasible.     

[paul cotter]

It wouldn't be much good for analgesic research. A major genetic variation like this might have unexpected changes in other areas of the animal's biochemistry, possibly invalidating any research. With receptor modelling the need for animal research will decline, hopefully.

[alancalverd]

I've been involved in an ethics committee discussion of a surgical procedure prescribed for a woman who, quite literally, had no sensation of pain below her mid-section. Apparently somewhere in her history she had broken her pelvis whilst giving birth, and hadn't noticed! IIRC the ethical question was whether to deliver the conventional deep anaesthesia, which would have produced other complications (known but unrelated respiratory problem)  or just cut and stitch with a bit of sedation.

It's a rare condition but we were given plenty of textbook cases to review.

[paul cotter]

There have been cases documented of congenital absence of pain susceptibility. These are quite rare and usually associated with multiple pathologies and low longevity, showing how important pain is in protecting us from harm.

[alancalverd]

True, but if we bred an animal with no sense of pain and protected it from other harm, we'd have Jimbee's ultimate laboratory rat!