14 DAY TRIAL // PETA supporters will probably be taken aback by the news that RayFish Footwear, a company from Thailand, recently took to using genetics so as to help it manufacture shoes with unique patterns.
More precisely, the company intends to have its employees work together with bioengineers for the purpose of cross-breeding various species of stingrays.
Apparently, after having succeeded in doing this, the genetically-modified stingrays' skin will be used to create what they hope will be highly fashionable sneakers. Company representatives claim that by using and abusing the stingrays' DNA in this manner, they will be able to present their clients with “designs never before seen in nature.”
Besides tackling Mother Nature in such ways, time and money need to be invested in looking after these genetic oddities: rumor has it that it takes about six to eight months for such a stingray to reach its shoes-manufacturing maturity, provided that the fish is taken good care of and that its growth is closely monitored.
Dailymail.com reports that the company is also considering the possibility of allowing customers to choose their very own, custom-made, stingray skin pattern.
Thus, those who wish to buy such sneakers could very well be able to fill in a form, express their desires and have bioengineers make sure their demands are properly met.
Naturally, this endeavor raises quite a lot of ethical and ecological concerns, with PETA stating loud and clear that, “The idea of breeding and killing neon-patterned stingrays sounds like something out of a horror film.”
David Edwards, a professor at Harvard University, is rather reluctant with respect to the success of this project. As far as he is concerned, the bioengineers working with RayFish Footwear are in over their heads, as the field of genetics is by no means as open to interferences as they declare it to be.
Professor David Edwards also believes that: “The ethics of this, not to say the legality, are other issues at least disturbing.”
As enraged as PETA might be, it is our opinion that, given the fact that one such customized pair of sneakers is likely to cost somewhere around $1,800 (about €1,400), no one is actually going to consider investing in this type of footwear unless they sleep on a mattress stuffed with money, no matter how much they want to impress their friends and family.