Strollerderby
Farmers Raise Goats to Produce Human Breastmilk
Udder is best? Doesn’t have quite the same ring as “breast is best” but if Russian scientists have their way, they’ll basically mean the same thing.
Researchers in Russia and Belarus are working on genetically engineering goats so that they’ll produce milk that is identical to that produced by lactating humans.
Sure, but how will it taste crumbled over a spinach salad?
Anyway, they think the goat-produced mama’s milk will also help to develop new medicines because of the antibiotic effect of lactoferrin,which is abundant in women’s breastmilk.
After mice that had been implanted with human genes produced loads of lactoferrin, they decided to try it on goats.
Now 90 females sired by GM male goats are being raised on a secret farm outside Moscow.
They
believe that from later this year when the goats mature they will
obtain larger amounts of lactoferrin than found naturally in human
breast milk.
… Igor Goldman, head of the transgenebank at the Russian Academy of
Science, said: ‘Human lactoferrin is a natural antibiotic, and it
provides babies who don’t have their own developed immune system.’
He dismissed complaints about genetic engineering. ‘In this case, genetically modified milk is a drug, not a food.
He also said the milk could be drunk by adults, not just babies. Well then, bottoms up!
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Photo: Tutorgig.com
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1 Comment
Anonymous commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amYumm!
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