Eloise Gibson reports in the New Zealand Herald on a proposal to put human genes into livestock with the aim of creating a special type of milk.
The application, by AgResearch, is currently under consideration by ERMA, and faces opposition from groups who believe the research is unethical.
An excerpt: (read in full here)
“AgResearch says that if the experiment works, proteins from the animals could be used to make cheaper “biopharmaceuticals” to treat human diseases.
“The company has already been breeding transgenic cows. Now it wants approval to continue working with the cows, and add sheep and goats to the trial.
“The breast cancer drug Herceptin was developed using genetic modification and AgResearch says such treatments have “huge” marketvalue.”
