Scientists clone sheep with good fat

[mr friendly guy]

Made in China

'Peng Peng': Scientists Clone Sheep With 'Good' Fat From Worm

By Tan Ee Lyn
April 24, 2012 10:21 AM EDT
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Chinese scientists have cloned a genetically modified sheep containing a "good" type of fat found naturally in nuts, seeds, fish and leafy greens that helps reduce the risk of heart attacks and cardiovascular disease.

"Peng Peng", which has a roundworm fat gene, weighed in at 5.74 kg when it was born on March 26 in a laboratory in China's far western region of Xinjiang.

"It's growing very well and is very healthy like a normal sheep," lead scientist Du Yutao at the Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI) in Shenzhen in southern China told Reuters.

Du and colleagues inserted the gene that is linked to the production of polyunsaturated fatty acids into a donor cell taken from the ear of a Chinese Merino sheep.

The cell was then inserted into an unfertilized egg and implanted into the womb of a surrogate sheep.

"The gene was originally from the C. elegans (roundworm) which has been shown (in previous studies) to increase unsaturated fatty acids which is very good for human health," Du said.

China, which has to feed 22 percent of the world's population but has only 7 percent of the world's arable land, has devoted plenty of resources in recent years to increasing domestic production of grains, meat and other food products.

But there are concerns about the safety of genetically modified foods and it will be some years before meat from such transgenic animals finds its way into Chinese food markets.

"The Chinese government encourages transgenic projects but we need to have better methods and results to prove that transgenic plants and animals are harmless and safe for consumption, that is crucial," Du said.

Apart from BGI, other collaborators in the project were the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Shihezi University in Xinjiang.

The United States is a world leader in producing GM crops. Its Food and Drug Administration has already approved the sale of food from clones and their offspring, saying the products were indistinguishable from those of non-cloned animals.

U.S. biotech firm AquaBounty's patented genetically modified Atlantic salmon are widely billed as growing at double the speed and could be approved by U.S. regulators as early as this summer.

(Editing by Paul Tait)

How soon until we get more Frankenstein food protests, particularly from Europe and Greenpeace.

[Irbis]

Food protests in Europe might be going too far, but I'll take them over "sound" Australian approach to generating energy, polluting atmosphere or exploiting natural resources, thank you very much.

[mr friendly guy]

Considering I openly mock my own country's climate change deniers, politicians etc when it comes to pollution whats your point? In terms of GM foods, Australia is in the process of testing GM crops before Greenpeace sabotaged it, delaying testing by about a year. So we suck when it comes to tackling climate change, with Europe, heck even China and India ahead of us as they already have some tax on carbon, plus a much larger renewable energy sector.

However the topic is about GM foods, and certainly as a whole, we have a "lets study it" attitude, rather than the backwards "GM IS TEH EVEL" attitude Greenpeace and Europe seem to have.

Edit - if we want to play the pollution card, Australia gets a special mention for being the first country to phase out incandescent light bulbs even before the EU. Granted the government just ripped off a policy by environmentalists, but credit where credit is due and all that.

[Esquire]

I'd actually be interested in seeing what Greenpeace might try to do to stop China from conducting these experiments. In any case, good on China for taking steps to make feeding their population easier and advancing the cause of science at the same time.

[Elfdart]

The whole grand peur over chopped beef (AKA "Pink Slime") makes me pessimistic.

[mr friendly guy]

I'd actually be interested in seeing what Greenpeace might try to do to stop China from conducting these experiments. In any case, good on China for taking steps to make feeding their population easier and advancing the cause of science at the same time.

They seem to use more traditional methods like protesting, mobilising the masses etc. They managed to convince China to stop GM rice, however there were some factors not present in this case. These are

a) the claimed that China will end up paying non Chinese multinational companies, ie appealing to nationalism. Not present here since this was a Chinese innovation

b) There were hints that approval of the rice was done without the proper steps, ie corruption in some government officials.

c) China continues to improve rice yields using non GM methods, such as breeding varieties of hybrid rice. They are planning to deploy "Green super rice" this year IIRC. So there is a less urgent need to approve GM rice. Since there is no hybrid sheep equivalent, I don't forsee this being a factor here.

Witness how Greenpeace also protested about civillian nuclear power post Fukishima, however China after doing their review opted to proceed. This simply reflects a more urgent need for alternative power sources. So I think if there isn't an urgent need, Greenpeace might be able to convince people, if there is, China would just ignore them.

[Esquire]

Huh. I actually hadn't heard about Greenpeace stopping GM rice in China - do you know how they're perceived by the average Chinese citizen? Is there a feeling that Greenpeace brings genuinely important issues to light, or that it overreacts and prevents progress, or something in the middle?

[mr friendly guy]

I only know what I can google. When they succeed they are all too happy to tell how they did it, so reading through their website they generally tell readers how they convinced the Chinese.

[Darksider]

Why is Greenpeace opposed to genetically engineered rice?

[mr friendly guy]

They seem to be opposed to GM food in general.

in their own words