GENET news: Animal

05.09.2008

EU MEPs call for ban on animal cloning for food

The European Parliament called for a ban in the EU on the cloning of animals for food supply. MEPs also urged an embargo on imports of cloned animals, their offspring and products derived from these sources. In a resolution adopted by 622 MEPs in favour, 32 against and 25 abstentions, the House calls on the Commission ”to submit proposals prohibiting for food supply purposes.

05.09.2008

U.S. food companies pledge not to use clones

Twenty food companies have told a consumer group that they won’t use milk or meat from cloned livestock. The companies, including Smithfield Foods Inc. and Kraft Foods Inc., were responding to a survey conducted by the Center for Food Safety, a consumer group that opposes animal cloning. Polls have shown most consumers are uncomfortable with the idea of eating products from cloned livestock, whether for health, ethical or environmental reasons. At the same time, products from the offspring of cloned animals are trickling into the food supply.

05.09.2008

Clones’ offspring may be in U.S. food supply: FDA

Food and milk from the offspring of cloned animals may have entered the U.S. food supply, the U.S. government said on Tuesday, but it would be impossible to know because there is no difference between cloned and conventional products. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said in January meat and milk from cloned cattle, swine and goats and their offspring were as safe as products from traditional animals. Before then, farmers and ranchers had followed a voluntary moratorium on the sale of clones and their offspring.

02.09.2008

U.S. Department of Agriculture seeks to segregate GE animals

The U.S. Agriculture Department wants to keep genetically modified animals from mixing with traditional livestock, saying the potential risks are unclear. The USDA said it is considering the need to regulate the movement -- including the importation, containment and field release -- of genetically engineered animals to ensure that the genetically engineered traits don’t present a health risk to traditional cattle, pigs and other livestock.

28.08.2008

Bt cotton scare grips farmers, 120 goats perish in Orissa (India)

The scare of Bt cotton has come real and in a cruel way. Around 120 goats died after consuming Bt cotton leaves cultivated in Patnagarh sub-division on Sunday. Bt cotton is banned though its seeds are illegally available in the State. Police have detained one Shankar Deep who had taken on lease the land for cultivation of Bt cotton and have registered an FIR. [...] Villagers say that the goats died after chewing Bt cotton leaves. The goats were found fainting in the area where they ate Bt cotton leaves. On postmortem, it was found that all the goats had Bt cotton leaves in their stomach.

26.08.2008

Eli Lilly and Company to acquire Monsanto’s POSILAC brand dairy product and related business

Monsanto Company announced today that it has entered into an agreement to sell its POSILAC® bovine somatotropin brand and related business to Eli Lilly and Company. Lilly’s animal health division, Elanco, headquartered in Greenfield, Indiana, is the seventh largest animal health company on a global sales basis. [...] ”We’re pleased Elanco is acquiring this business and will continue to provide dairy farmers with this important production tool,” said Carl Casale, Monsanto’s Executive Vice-President of Strategy and Operations.

21.08.2008

Namibia crafting regulations on GMOs

Namibia is working on regulations of the Biosafety Act 2006, which will regulate the import, export and production of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). [...] The Biosafety Act was passed and signed in December 2006. It aims to introduce a system and procedures for the regulation of GMOs to provide protection to the conservation, research, development, production, marketing, transport, application and other uses of genetically modified organisms and specific products derived from GMOs. It also aims to promote sustainable use of biological diversity by taking into consideration potential risks to human health and safety, as well as cultural, social and economic considerations.

18.08.2008

Agresearch (New Zealand) seeks new long term GE pharma animal approvals

The Government’s biggest science company, Agresearch, has asked regulators to approve a wide-ranging application to genetically engineer 18 different animals for commercial production of pharmaceuticals. The pastoral science company would develop in the laboratory cell-lines including humans and monkeys, E coli and yeast. Using these they would develop GE cows, buffalo, sheep, pigs, goats, llamas, alpacas, deer, and horses.

18.08.2008

Puppies of hero pit bull Booger are world's first commercial clones

South Korean biotechnologists have engineered a pet resurrection that, until recently, seemed commercially impossible: they have reunited a Californian woman with her dearest friend - or, at least, genetic copies derived from the frozen remains of his ear. More than £25,000 the poorer but weeping with joy, Bernann McKinney, 57, became the world’s first paying customer yesterday in the strange new industry of canine cloning.

18.08.2008

The future of biotech is in rabbits, says entrepreneur Johnny Stine

Rabbit antibodies have 1,000 times higher «affinity” than mice (they bind with their target on cells much more tightly and for longer). For the biotech business, that means rabbit-generated antibodies can be given in fewer shots, and at much lower doses, saving a bundle on manufacturing costs. And here’s the part that Stine says «blows people away.” With rabbits, he has developed a way to yield hundreds of antibody drug candidates in less than a month. By comparison, it can take several months for mouse methods to yield a single drug candidate, he says. He calls it BLAST (B-Lymphoblast Activation and Selection Technology).

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