Franken-Heifers Immune to Mad Cow

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Posted on Jan 3, 2007

advance.uconn.edu

Using a combination of genetic engineering and cloning, scientists from the U.S. and Japan have successfully eliminated the protein that causes mad cow disease. So far the cows in the lab have proven immune to the illness, which shreds its victims’ brains, driving them mad.

AP via Forbes:

An international team of researchers from the U.S. and Japan reported Sunday that they had “knocked out” the gene responsible for making the proteins, called prions. The disease didn’t take hold when brain tissue from two of the genetically engineered cows was exposed to bad prions in the laboratory, they said.

Experts said the work may offer another layer of security to people concerned about eating infected beef, although though any food derived from genetically engineered animals must first be approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

“This research is a huge step forward for the use of animal biotechnology that benefits consumers,” said Barbara Glenn of the Biotechnology Industry Organization, a Washington industry group that includes the company that sponsored the research as a member. “This a plus for consumers worldwide.”

The surviving cows are now being injected directly with mad cow disease, known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, to make certain the cattle are immune to it.

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TAGS: beef cloning cow disease fda food genetics health mad cow

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By jim stillwaggon, January 4, 2007 at 8:56 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

Beefeater’s comment above could have fallen from my own lips:  Thankyou Beefeater. 

I will simply add that this ‘great piece of research’ reminds me of my daughter, who puts pans under the roof when there’s a leak.  And when eventually the pan rusts through, she puts another larger pan under the first.

One last remark (as a cheesemaker in Switzerland):  cows are best off eating hay, grass, and a few cereals.  Silage is already pushing it.  Meat products do not belong in a cow’s diet.  Period.

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By Quy Tran, January 3, 2007 at 6:19 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

Mad cows are still much better than Pat Robertson

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By Tobias, January 3, 2007 at 5:39 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

Great comments!

Free up the industry, so they can make money off their waste again!

A cow may be immune, but that doesn’t mean squate if a human is not!

Experts can be wrong you know. I’ll bet some expert told George and Barbara once their little boy would be fine.

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By Ira, January 3, 2007 at 3:36 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

Gotta love animal testing....when will the mad scientists be able to genetically modify humans so they don’t get CJD?

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By Beefeater, January 3, 2007 at 7:57 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

Yahoo!  Now we can feed the cows ANYTHING!  Lets start digging up corpses and use them as cattle feed.  Will free up all that wasted space used for stupid graveyards.  Maybe CJD resitant cattle will be the answer to our growing garbage problem as well?  Corporate Greed:  Is there anything it can’t do??

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By Linda, January 3, 2007 at 7:21 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

Great for the cows.  The question is if these same animals are fed prion-contaminated food, can they pass the infectious prions to humans who eat them?  It’s not that I don’t care about whether or not the cattle become infected; I care about the humans who eat them, among which I most likely will not be counted.

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