The growing bioeconomy uses animals to produce pharmaceuticals, biomaterials, and industrial products, with welfare implications that require oversight beyond traditional research frameworks.
Bioeconomy animal welfare spans production scales from individual horseshoe crabs bled for medical products to billions of silkworms processed for textile production. Horseshoe crab bleeding causes mortality in a significant proportion of returned crabs and is under pressure from synthetic alternative development. Silkworm killing during cocoon processing involves billions of individual animals whose sentience is uncertain but cannot be dismissed. Genetically modified animals producing human proteins face the same welfare challenges as other transgenic animal use. Lab-grown alternatives to animal-derived bioeconomy products represent the same welfare improvement pathway as cultivated meat — decoupling products from animal welfare costs.