Genetically Modified Cows Produce Human Breast MilkChinese scientists have genetically modified dairy cows to produce human breast milk, and hope to be selling it in supermarkets within three years.
The milk produced by the transgenic cows is identical to the human variety and has the same immune-boosting and antibacterial qualities as breast milk, scientists at China's Agricultural University in Beijing say.
The transgenic herd of 300 was bred by inserting human genes into cloned cow embryos which were then implanted into surrogate cows.
The milk is still undergoing safety tests but with government permission it will be sold to consumers as a more nutritious dairy drink than cow's milk.
"It's good," said worker Jiang Yao. "It's better for you because it's genetically modified."
Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.
this immediately made me think of that scene in Beastmaster with the cow, the glowing blue goo, and the horrific baby stealing.
I look forward to reading hippies complaining that human breast milk is an untested novel food and shouldn't be allowed. Particularly for children - imagine if babies drank this, who knows what it'd do?
What, no meathook tag?
People on the internet don't get what the grim meathook future is, want meathook tag applied to 21st century first-world issues like genetic modification and bionic implants.
In other news, irony declared dead.
Because I was ever so worried about having been made to look foolish on the Internet, I actually went back and double-checked my memory of Josh Ellis's original diatribe, and I'm pretty sure that producing human milk for human babies from bovines by way of an incremental advance of GM science so that all the birth mothers in the People's Republic can get back to the factory and cough out iPads faster, or even just so that we can keep overpopulating the planet, is pretty much in keeping with what he wrote. But, hey, you know, thanks for the arrogance!
I consider myself fortunate that I don't remember *anything* about Beastmaster, specifically that.
Hahahahahaha (breathe) hahahahahahahaha
A lot of what's magical about breast-milk is that it's tuned to the baby--it changes as the baby ages. The milk a newborn gets is different from what he gets as an older infant is different from what he gets when he starts solid food, etc. Also, if the baby is sick, the antigens get passed to the mom as the baby nurses, then the mom makes the antibodies and feeds them back to the baby.
Also the idea that we know all the genes for making breastmilk is pretty hysterical in and of itself.
But if it tastes like breastmilk it will probably be popular. That stuff is sweeeeeeet.
(You know I have a bunch of expired stuff in the freezer. I should try to make butter with it...)
I'm liking the attached image, where's that from?