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Man / Cow Hybrids: Here at Last!
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| In his 2006 State of the Union address�between thanking outgoing Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor for her service and heralding his wife's Helping America's Youth Initiative�President Bush slipped in a call for a ban on "human-animal hybrids." It's probably a phrase that brings thoughts of centaurs, fauns and harpies to some minds. But, despite the President's stern disapproval of mixed-species clones, we may soon find food products derived from them not just in our research labs, but on our kitchen tables within the next year. A Dutch biotechnology company called Pharming has genetically engineered cows, outfitting females with a human gene that causes them to express high levels of the protein human lactoferrin in their milk. According to Pharming's website, the protein�which is naturally present in human tears, lung secretions, milk and other bodily fluids�fights against the bacteria that causes eye and lung infections, plays a key role in the immune system of infants and adults and improves intestinal microbial balance, promoting the health of the gastro-intestinal tract. "Since the protein has the ability to bind iron, is a natural anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and anti-viral, is an antioxidant and also has immunomodulatory properties, large groups of people might benefit from orally administered lactoferrin," the company literature reads. Scientists have tested the toxicity of the protein�isolated from the cows' milk�on rats. They found that�even at the high level of 2,000 mg recombinant human lactoferrin per kg body weight�orally consumed human lactoferrin has no adverse effects to complement all the supposed benefits already mentioned. Pharming has, therefore, filed a notification with the FDA asking that their lactoferrin be labeled "Generally Recognized As Safe" (GRAS). If the FDA approves this product, human lactoferrin derived from these cloned cows could be in America's yogurt, popsicles, sports drinks and snack bars within months. "We believe that now we're at the right stage...to initiate discussions with nutritional companies and other food companies who might be interested in this kind of a product," said Samir Singh, Pharming's Chief Business Officer. "There has been some interest from these companies already; we should be in a strong position to commercialize the product later this year or next year." To create human lactoferrin-lactating cows, Pharming's scientists introduce human DNA coding for the protein's production into the nuclei of fertilized bovine eggs. The cells that successfully incorporate the foreign DNA or "transgene" are then selected, and each is fused with a second egg cell that has had its nucleus removed. The fused cells are then implanted in a surrogate cow's uterus. If all goes well, the cow becomes pregnant with a transgenic calf that, upon maturity two years later, will produce milk containing human lactoferrin. Despite that one component of its milk, the calf is all bovine�but technically remains an example of the dastardly human-animal hybrid. "We believe that the benefit with our product is that it is a human protein, as opposed to a protein that is of animal origin," said Singh, explaining why Pharming is going through the trouble of recombining DNA. "So, because it's a human protein, it will interact with the human receptors in the gastrointestinal tract." The "humanness" of the protein may be both its strongest selling point and the label that will delay and possibly squash its eventual release to the marketplace. Surveys consistently show that Americans are wary of using genetically modified animals, specifically cloned animals, for food. In fact, a 2005 survey by the Pew Initiative On Food And Biotechnology found that only 23% of American consumers believe that food from cloned animals is safe, while 43% believe it is unsafe. Despite the public sentiment, the FDA is still working out its official policy on transgenic animals. The agency currently asks that any company looking to introduce transgenic animals into the food supply contact the Center for Veterinary Medicine for instructions on how to prepare an investigational file. It has not yet approved any food from transgenic animals, but according to Singh, the organization has approved a handful proteins made through mammalian cell culture technology, where cells are cultured in a synthetic environment. "The Federal policy on transgenic animals is under discussion at the White House level," said an FDA spokesperson via e-mail. "Those discussions will ultimately produce a seamless interagency approach to the regulation of genetically engineered animals." Products from transgenic animals have seen no real success in passing through any approval agencies, thus far. According to the BBC, in February, the European Medicines Agency turned down an application to license Atryn, an anti-clotting agent collected from the milk of transgenic goats, because of insufficient scientific research into its safety and benefit. California-based Ventria Bioscience filed a GRAS notification on human lactoferrin produced in rice back in December, 2004. The status of the application is still listed as pending�every other notification from 2004 was closed by mid-2005. Singh isn't worried that his human lactoferrin protein will face a similar fate. "Regulatory agencies both in the US and Europe have not said to companies who are working with this sort of technology that they have any issues with the technology itself," Singh said. "There are different uses and different applications; I think this is a relatively straightforward application. If there aren't any issues with the protein itself, I would expect the regulatory agencies would not have any serious concerns." As for the President's State of the Union remarks, the FDA had no comment. Singh said he'd received feedback from others in the biotechnology industry that Bush was not talking about these sort of transgenic animals but rather about animals created purely for human organ harvesting, such as mice capable of growing human ears on their backs. Even though Pharming has run multiple tests on their protein to ensure it is safe, and the FDA's claims that it's open to transgenic technology, human lactoferrin from transgenic cows faces an uphill climb from the lab in the Netherlands to the shelves at your local grocery store. The people at Pharming are just hoping that regulatory agencies recognize that transgenic milk does a body good. Very good. |
It's fine. You could compare it to insulin-creating bacteria.
This one is my favorite. Goats that produce spider's silk (web).
LINK
I've got concerns that it'll be a gateway for things like BSE (Mad cow disease), the disease can cross over from meat to humans in a couple of cases and it's caused by a Prion.
These things are nasty and youre not going to knock it out with something as simple as pasturisation or radiation, they are almost impossible to destroy and very hard to detect. Cross species diseases where the host is closer to humans biologically is about my only real concern when theyre going to be used for consumption because it might cause a few more mutant strains of diseases.
Re: Man / Cow Hybrids: Here at Last!
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| Originally posted by Renegade Are there any ethical concerns raised here at all? Can anyone come up with good "moo" puns to save me the effort? |
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| Originally posted by NeoPhono This one is my favorite. Goats that produce spider's silk (web). LINK |
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| Originally posted by LazFX I heard about this and WOW!! that is some pretty cool shit. As for the Cow thing, another great advance of man. |
A human animal hybrid. That a pretty disturbing concept. But I guess only to me here so I won't comment any further.
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| Originally posted by shaolin_Z A human animal hybrid. That a pretty disturbing concept. But I guess only to me here so I won't comment any further. |
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| Originally posted by NeoPhono Humans are animals! |
Well yes, but I don't consider them to be just that.
, but things like GMOs etc. This obviously goes alot further than that. 
We've been doing selective breeding of livestock and plants for desirable traits for a long time too, larger animals which yield more meat, wool, milk or grain, grow quicker and reproduce faster than the stock species they came from. Some of them where hybrids with other animals and plants as well.
Which is essentially messing around with nature.
Adding bits of human though into the equation makes me uneasy with something like cattle because theres lots of diseases that could affect both species.
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| Originally posted by Lilith Venomous attack goats would have been more fun though dont you think? |
big deal. theres been women/dog hybrids for centuries 
We should ship some down from the mainland so you folks in Hobart can get a bit of genetic diversity. 
oooh! zing!
Re: Man / Cow Hybrids: Here at Last!
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| Originally posted by Renegade Can anyone come up with good "moo" puns to save me the effort? |
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| Originally posted by Lilith I've got concerns that it'll be a gateway for things like BSE (Mad cow disease), the disease can cross over from meat to humans in a couple of cases and it's caused by a Prion. These things are nasty and youre not going to knock it out with something as simple as pasturisation or radiation, they are almost impossible to destroy and very hard to detect. Cross species diseases where the host is closer to humans biologically is about my only real concern when theyre going to be used for consumption because it might cause a few more mutant strains of diseases. |
) than immunological survivability of meat products.
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| Originally posted by shaolin_Z Well yes, but I don't consider them to be just that. Another reaosn why I personally find it disturbing is that I don't believe in screwing around with nature. No, that's not a reference to computer and skyscrapers , but things like GMOs etc. This obviously goes alot further than that. |
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| Originally posted by DJ Shibby Just to let you know, our species has a long history (at least as long as recorded history, definitely 12,000 back, and almost certainly longer) of "screwing around with nature". Give our ancestors more credit; they were creating hybrids and frankensteins of all sorts of things long before we had modern technology. Plant populations have been mixed and grafted and cultivated and isolated genetically for certain properties for millennia; we've bred entirely new species of bee solely to optimize honey production and collection efficiency. It's nothing new; we're just taking it to the next level now, because we have the tools and the information to do so. EDIT: Oops, should have read the next post; Lillith basically already said the exact same thing. |
I don't think drinking genetically modified milk would raise the risk of Mad Cow. All the cases I've heard about come from tainted meat/tissues. Also, unless the proteins would be denatured by pasteurization and thus the milk could not be pasteurized, it seems to me it would be the same as drinking "normal" store bought milk.
We'd finally have miloko plus (obligatory Clockwork Orange reference).
On a more philosophical/esoteric note...couldn't you argue modern medicine goes "against nature?" I mean, naturally, if you were to get an infection, you'd more than likely die of it. We use antibiotics to interfere with "nature" and give us an advantage against bacteria. Or how about cancer treatments? We use radiation therapy to literally destroy the DNA of cancerous tissue.
Yes, I know that this is different from splicing genes, but I'm just throwing it out there as an example of where going against "nature" is a good thing.
Re: Man / Cow Hybrids: Here at Last!
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| Originally posted by Renegade Can anyone come up with good "moo" puns to save me the effort? |
Re: Re: Man / Cow Hybrids: Here at Last!
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| Originally posted by Lira You know who's going to bring the 10 commandments to these cows? Mooses!!! ================================================================ You know what happens when the cows read the commandments? A mootiny!!! ================================================================ You know what happens when you send an n number of mootinous cows to the space? You see the moon!!! ================================================================ Why don't the cows come back to Earth? Because they keep mooving!!! ================================================================ Why can't they call for help in space either? Because they're moote!!! ================================================================ How do you spot a Mexican Man-cow? You look for a moostache ================================================================ How do you spot a Mexican Man-cow in space? It's looking for moo-jeres! ================================================================ And how do you know they're not enjoying their trip? They're in a bad moo'd ================================================================ Why did they keep being sad? Because they were emoo ================================================================ ... I suck at making puns |
Re: Re: Man / Cow Hybrids: Here at Last!
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| Originally posted by Lira I suck at making puns |
Moo really think so? 
Re: Re: Re: Man / Cow Hybrids: Here at Last!
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| Originally posted by venomX Lira that was awful |
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| Originally posted by Renegade Thanks, that was quite amoosing. |
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| Originally posted by Lilith Moo really think so? |
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