Rabu, 25 April 2012

Chinese scientists create cloned lamb with 'good' fat in its meat

Chinese scientists create cloned lamb with 'good' fat in its meat

  • The fat helps reduce the risk of heart attacks
  • 'Peng Peng' was born with a roundworm fat gene that increases unsaturated fatty acids

By Ted Thornhill

PUBLISHED: 02:59 EST, 25 April 2012 | UPDATED: 14:39 EST, 25 April 2012

Scientists there 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.

A healthier type of Chinese food: Peng Peng, a cloned sheep, has 'good' fatty acids in its meat

A healthier type of Chinese food: Peng Peng, a cloned sheep, has 'good' fatty acids in its meat

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 unfertilised 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 per cent of the world's population but has only 7 per cent 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.

Food for thought: The good fatty acids are all thanks to a gene from a roundworm

Food for thought: The good fatty acids are all thanks to a gene from a roundworm

‘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.

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Breaking News: An entire world does not care about animals. It really is shocking. I wonder what we have to do to make people see sense. It helps when we get reports from America of mad cow disease - now, will you listen to us? Stop eating meat and get a grip of yourselves. - stuart, animals want to live just like us, so stop eating them :(, 26/4/2012 01:34 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Oh Stuart that will never happen. People love their meat. I'm surprised that the masses don't stand outside slaughterhouses with their plates chanting 'bring out the dead, bring out the dead'.

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Breaking News: An entire world does not care about animals. It really is shocking. I wonder what we have to do to make people see sense. It helps when we get reports from America of mad cow disease - now, will you listen to us? Stop eating meat and get a grip of yourselves.

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Wonderul. Opens up a whole new can of worms. Let's hope it results in another fatal human brain disease. I love horror stories.

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What a load of rubbish,meat is an invaluable source of protien and iorn,but it also contains saturated fat,as does farmed chicken,if you want to cut down on saturated fat then EAT LESS RED MEAT AND PROCCESSED MEAT.It's not rocket science.I really do wish these "scientists" and experts would stop telling people how to live.

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Please stop eating meat. This is where it leads. It is an obscenity and is an even bigger tragedy in the making. We are the demons. - DG, SB, 25/04/2012 12:38 Please do some studying on nutrition. MEAT is a must for all humans it really does disgust me when I see people refusing to eat meat. But continue more for me yum yum.

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But does the healthy fat taste as good as the bad fat. If not I'll stick with the bad fat lamb.

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China the most evil greedy nation on earth.They have no conscience and no morals in their pursuit for money. They are destroying the planet and all the beautiful animals that inhabit it,.China disgusts me. Please boycott China and Chinese goods.

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This has nothing to do with the Chinese as a race but rather with hunans as a species.

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This is nothing Wait till they try to implement Codex Alimentarius

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Excellent, healthy kebabs!

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