The U.S. Agriculture Department wants to keep genetically modified animals from mixing with traditional livestock, saying the potential risks are unclear.
From: GM Watch (EU) August 29, 2008
1.USDA Seeks to Segregate Modified Livestock
2.The genetic engineer's garbage can: the U.S. food supply
NOTE: Just as with crops, segregation is a non-starter, with
experimental GM animals already having ended up in the food chain - see
item 2 --- --- 1.USDA Seeks to Segregate Modified Livestock By BILL
TOMSON Wall Street Journal, August 29 2008
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121997565847182283.html?mod=special_page_campaign2008_leftbox
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.
Biotechnology research and development have resulted in genetically
engineered animals and animal products that are ready for
commercialization, the department says. So far, no products derived
from genetically engineered animals have been approved for human use,
although the Food and Drug Administration has approved the safety of
meat from cloned cattle.
The USDA, in a posting on the U.S. General Services Administration Web
site, said that although genetic modification of livestock "may provide
significant agricultural, human [and] animal health, and societal
benefits, there are also potential risks, concerns, and environmental
impacts associated with the technology that may require Federal
oversight."
Barbara Glenn, managing director of animal biotechnology at the
Biotechnology Industry Organization, a trade group, welcomed plans for
governmental oversight.
"We need that guidance to be published so that we can move forward with
the industry [and] have investor confidence," Ms. Glenn said.
The trade group says it expects genetic modifications will make animals
healthy and improve them as a source of food. They could also produce
vaccines to treat illnesses, the group said in a recent report.
Write to Bill Tomson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. --- --- 2.The genetic
engineer's garbage can: the U.S. food supply GM Watch, 2005
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5728
When nearly 400 pigs used in U.S. biotech research apparently entered
the food supply, the FDA said "it could not verify the researchers'
claim [that the pigs weren't dangerous] because they failed to keep
enough records..." (US biotech researchers careless with 386 pigs -
FDA, full story below)
Here are some more missing GM pigs from the same report:
"One year ago, several genetically altered pigs ended up in Canadian
poultry feed. Researchers at the University of Guelph in southern
Ontario discovered 11 dead piglets were mistakenly sent to a rendering
plant and ground into poultry feed."
The year before that we had:
"Tainted pork from genetically altered pigs stolen from the University
of Florida showed up in sausage served at a funeral in High Springs,
university police said.
The stolen pigs were genetically engineered to develop a disorder
similar to diabetic blindness in humans. University officials do not
know what effect, if any, the treated meat could have on people who eat
it.
The pig incident is one in a series of missteps at the university's
Animal Resources department which oversees the treatment of biomedical
research animals." (Tainted pigs show up in sausage at funeral
DATELINE: GAINESVILLE, Fla. The Associated Press, June 3, 2001)
Pigs themselves were also put at risk by a lab break out a year later:
"WASHINGTON -- Federal authorities are investigating the disappearance
of genetically altered bacteria fatal to pigs that appear to have been
stolen from a research laboratory at Michigan State University.
Investigators said that while the bacteria apparently are harmless to
humans, they could devastate the pork industry if replicated and
released, and they are treating the case as a potential terrorist
threat." (Authorities Probe Case Of Missing Bacteria THE WALL STREET
JOURNAL)
http://online.wsj.com/article_print/0,,SB1032390712851591555,00.html
And then of course that same year there was:
Alarm as GM pig vaccine taints US crops Strict new guidelines planned
after contamination Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington The Guardian,
December 24 2002
http://www.guardian.co.uk/gmdebate/Story/0,2763,865030,00.html *** The
full story: US biotech researchers careless with 386 pigs - FDA Source
- Reuters Commodities News (Eng) Thursday, February 6 2003
http://ngin.tripod.com/060203a.htm
WASHINGTON, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Nearly 400 pigs used in U.S.
bioengineering research may have entered the food supply because they
were sold to a livestock dealer instead of being destroyed, the Food
and Drug Administration said on Wednesday.
But the FDA said the pigs did not pose a public health risk.
Between April 2001 and January 2003, researchers at the University of
Illinois in Urbana/Champaign released 386 pigs from biotech studies to
a livestock dealer, the agency said.
Under the study requirements set by the FDA, the pigs should have been incinerated or sent to a rendering plant for disposal.
"The researchers claim that these pigs, which were the offspring of
transgenic animals, did not inherit the inserted genetic material from
their parents -- that is, they were not themselves transgenic," the FDA
said in a statement.
The agency said it could not verify the researchers' claim because they
failed to keep enough records to assess whether the baby pigs inherited
the added genetic material
The pigs were part of a study in which genes were engineered so that
proteins would be produced primarily in the milk-producing glands of
female pigs. The agency did not elaborate on the purpose of the
experiment.
"None of the pigs sent to slaughter are believed to have been old
enough to lactate," the FDA said. That means any meat or other products
derived from the animal should not be harmful to humans it added.
The FDA did not identify the livestock dealer which took ownership of the research pigs.
The agency said it was continuing to investigate the incident in collaboration with the U.S. Agriculture Department.
The researchers' failure to destroy the pigs is a "serious violation" of FDA rules, the agency added.
Various U.S. researchers have been experimenting with genetic
engineering of pigs to produce such things as proteins to treat human
hemophilia and blood-clotting diseases. Other studies have focused on
how to insert a gene that will produce leaner pork for consumption or
more environmentally-friendly pig manure.
One year ago, several genetically altered pigs ended up in Canadian
poultry feed. Researchers at the University of Guelph in southern
Ontario discovered 11 dead piglets were mistakenly sent to a rendering
plant and ground into poultry feed.