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FDA genetically modified piglets headed for dinner tables
Washington, Feb 07: The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is searching for 386 pigs that went to market when they should have stayed home.
Washington, Feb 07: The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is searching for 386 pigs that went to market when they should have stayed home.
The piglets in question were the offspring of genetically modified swine raised by researchers at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign and then sold to a livestock broker in violation of FDA rules.
University officials insist that they carefully vetted the offspring of the experimental sows to ensure that none of the piglets with any altered genetic material made it into the human food chain.
Most of the piglets would have made it into the human food chain, university spokesman Bill Murphy acknowledged yesterday.
"But that's not a concern because we know from the tests we conducted on them that none of those animals had trans-genes."
The FDA sought to quash any fears about threats to public health Wednesday, noting in a statement that "all available scientific evidence indicates that (the meat) would present no risk to public health."
The scientists engineered the sows with two genes that were designed to help them raise bigger pigs faster: the first was a cow gene that increases milk production, the second a synthetic gene which makes milk easier for piglets to digest.
Bureau Report
The piglets in question were the offspring of genetically modified swine raised by researchers at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign and then sold to a livestock broker in violation of FDA rules.
University officials insist that they carefully vetted the offspring of the experimental sows to ensure that none of the piglets with any altered genetic material made it into the human food chain.
Most of the piglets would have made it into the human food chain, university spokesman Bill Murphy acknowledged yesterday.
"But that's not a concern because we know from the tests we conducted on them that none of those animals had trans-genes."
The FDA sought to quash any fears about threats to public health Wednesday, noting in a statement that "all available scientific evidence indicates that (the meat) would present no risk to public health."
The scientists engineered the sows with two genes that were designed to help them raise bigger pigs faster: the first was a cow gene that increases milk production, the second a synthetic gene which makes milk easier for piglets to digest.
Bureau Report