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British Scientists Working On Creating "Zombie Cows"
Posted by Pile
(17915 views)      [E-Mail link]
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[Beating Dead Horses]
[Eureka!] |
 News that the daughter of a US clone cow has been born on a British farm has moved the issue from science fiction to consumer reality. While some are concerned about this bringing on a new crop of "farmyard freaks", scientists boast of the ability to create "zombie cows" which in-effect don't mind living their life in cramped spaces and ultimately being slaughtered for food. |
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Professor Ben Mepham, of Nottingham University, said the impact of bio-engineering, creating GM and cloned animals, is huge.
Factory farming techniques, most commonly used with pigs and chicken, often involve keeping animals confined in cramped conditions.
For pigs, who are highly intelligent, these conditions can lead to stress and aggression.
However, GM scientists are actively investigating ways to remove the stress and aggression gene from animals, effectively turning them into complacent zombies.
The professor said it might become technically possible to produce "animal vegetables" - beasts which are "highly prolific and oblivious to their physical and mental status".
However, he argued that while this could reduce the pain and stress of factory farming, this did not mean it should be allowed to develop without question.
The professor of applied bioethics warned that many of the GM experiments on animals have resulted in cruelty, producing mutants or animals which grow so large in the womb that they can only be surgically removed.
He said: "The question of whether humanity should take it upon ourselves to alter animals by GM, involving in many cases mixing the genes of different species - and sometimes those of human origin - is undoubtedly critical for many people."
The professor said that religious groups would see it as "an attempt to usurp God's role" while others would be unhappy about "so fundamentally altering the natural order".
Prof Mepham, is a former member of the Government's Agriculture, Environment Biotechnology Commission.(AEBC)
In 2002, the Commission called on the government to set up a regulatory body to police developments such as GM and clone farming.
However, this was ignored by ministers, who subsequently scrapped the AEBC after it issued a number of reports challenging government policy in areas such as GM crops and food.
The AEBC called for a ban on the creation of "intrinsically objectionable" creatures - such as pigs and cows modified not to feel stress in factory farming conditions. |
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Sounds familiar...
Posted by Frank West on 2007-01-13 18:13:00 | | I've been in wars, ya know. |
its not a good idea
Posted by aaron on 2007-01-14 09:12:52 | | it took a long time for things to evolve to the point they are at now. There are and have been conditions that have evoked current biological status as a whole. some person in lab should not be a able to draw a cartoon then create it out of real living things. |
Now here's a thought
Posted by wizeGurl on 2007-01-14 17:32:36 | | Instead of re-designing cows so that they won't mind the pain and stress of factory farming, how about we re-design factory farming to remove the pain and stress? I'll bet we wouldn't even need to mess with anyone's genes to do it. |
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