I'm probably not the only one now remembering Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (1971) and/or the 1982 animated movie.

My initial reaction is that this is less worrying than a transgenic approach.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs._Frisby_and_the_Rats_of_NI...

[dupe] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49735367