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One intermediate step between labrats and humans that seems sensible is pets. Maybe dogs in particular. Many popular breeds seem to be prone to genetic issues. I think once owning your own fuzzy little gmo is popular it would seem less dramatic to use it on people.

Domestic rats are very fragile genetically, it would be nice to try to "fix" them. Also science knows a lot about rat genome so it would be even easier than dogs.
Pet rat owners will fall over themselves to throw money at anyone offering a longer-lived and healthier breed. I would pay more money than I care to admit for a rat that lived just a few years longer.

There's actually a huge problem with pet rats in that they're all remarkably inbred. If you don't get your rats from a dedicated professional breeder who's been at it for decades, your pet is likely going to get really sick at the end of their life. Females tend to get catastrophic tumors, and all have extremely delicate respiratory systems. Out of the dozens of rats I've kept, only one died quietly in her sleep of old age. The rest were horrific and gruesome.

Yeah, there'd be a good amount of money in it for whoever can fix rats' genetics.

How do you turn a $50 rat into a $600 rat? Get a rat. I don't even what to know how much I've spent on rats over the years, a lot. We do so much in rats for medical research you'd think we could produce some super rats! But as you mentioned, they're so in bread, and even from really good breeders, they're still gonna die shitty deaths from some cancer or respiratory infection. You're right, I'd pay up for a GMO rat that lived a super healthy life, even if it was shorter than other pets. Rats are so awesome!
Great, super rats. There no way that could go badly at all ever.
Put them on a planet and leave them there, at least then it couldn't go badly for us. And no, I'm fairly sure there are no books about this already.
We need super rats (or at least one) to train the super turtles.
They're prone to genetic issues because they're inbred.
So are some groups of human. It would be beneficial to be able to reverse that.
Yes and I don't see how that changes anything I said?
Are you aware of Star Trek lore? Tech billionaires will make their Khan.

Funny thing is that this kind of stuff is considered haram by the CCP who are fanatically dedicated to social order.

Tech billionaires might ironically be our only hope here as they are the only ones willing to ignore the bureaucratic red tape.

If a tech billionaire edits an embryo and figures out how to make a human immune to a certain disease or live a better life, that is a win for the rest of us.

And before anyone says "they'd just keep it for themselves" - there has been no medical technology in human history that hasn't become generally available after a couple decades.

I'd love to share your expressed hope of billionaires' beneficial impact on society, but alas, the behavior that I see in nowadays' crop leaves much to be desired. To be a bit more clear, I don't necessarily see the incentives that drive the wealthy individuals to align with others' hope.
I know someone working on this! That's about all I can say for now though :)

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