A story from 3 days ago, part of a movement that is just being ignored by the so much of the socio-political sphere:

First Gene-Edited Dogs Reported in China

Scientists in China say they are the first to use gene editing to produce customized dogs. They created a beagle with double the amount of muscle mass by deleting a gene called myostatin.

The dogs have “more muscles and are expected to have stronger running ability, which is good for hunting, police (military) applications,” Liangxue Lai, a researcher with the Key Laboratory of Regenerative Biology at the Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, said in an e-mail.

Lai and 28 colleagues reported their results last week in the Journal of Molecular Cell Biology, saying they intend to create dogs with other DNA mutations, including ones that mimic human diseases such as Parkinson’s and muscular dystrophy. “The goal of the research is to explore an approach to the generation of new disease dog models for biomedical research,” says Lai. “Dogs are very close to humans in terms of metabolic, physiological, and anatomical characteristics.”

[…]

Last month, Duanqing Pei, a representative of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, highlighted Lai’s work as part of what he called a large Chinese effort to modify animals using CRISPR. The list of animals already engineered using gene editing in China includes goats, rabbits, rats, and monkeys. Pei described the efforts as a national scientific priority and part of China’s effort to establish world-class research.

The ease with which gene-editing can be carried out has raised worries that humans could be next (see “Engineering the Perfect Baby”). Those fears were stoked in April when another Chinese team reported altering human embryos in the laboratory in an attempt to correct a genetic defect that causes beta-thalassemia (see “Chinese Team Reports Gene-Editing Human Embryos”).

[…]

The effects of losing the myostatin gene are well known from nature. One breed of ultra-beefy cattle called Belgian Blues normally lack the gene and grow to hulking size. Among dogs, the mutation occurs naturally only in whippets, says Eva Engvall, a retired scientist and whippet breeder who in 2007 helped identify the mutation affecting that breed. The double-muscled dogs are called “bully whippets.”

In rare cases, a person can also be born without any working copy of myostatin. In 2004 doctors reported a newborn who “appeared extraordinarily muscular, with protruding muscles in his thighs and upper arms.” They confirmed he was missing the myostatin gene and noted that by four and a half years of age, the boy could extend his arms while holding three-kilogram dumbbells.

Because the myostatin gene is well-studied—and because double-muscling isn’t known to have obvious drawbacks—it is frequently cited in debates over hypothetical future “gene-doping” among athletes. U.S. doctors are already attempting to block myostatin in gene-therapy experiments that seek to slow muscle loss in boys suffering from Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

[…]

It is precisely that power that is stirring wide debate and concern over CRISPR. Yet at least some researchers think that gene-edited dogs could put a furry, friendly face on the technology. In an interview this month, George Church, a professor at Harvard University who leads a large effort to employ CRISPR editing, said he thinks it will be possible to augment dogs by using DNA edits to make them live longer or simply make them smarter.

Church said he also believed the alteration of dogs and other large animals could open a path to eventual gene editing of people. “Germline editing of pigs or dogs offers a line into it,” he said. “People might say, ‘Hey, it works.’ “

In this particular case of turning off the gene for myostatin, given such mutations have already been seen in humans, is a tempting thing for example when future generals want stronger soldiers.

Or in the simulated wars we call “sports”, think of this - the billionaire team owners breed entire teams of superior athletes.

Why not?