Scientists create GM 'superchicken' that doesnt spread bird flu
By David Derbyshire Daily Mail EXCERPT:
Last updated at 9:00 AM on 14th January 2011
A genetically modified 'superchicken' that doesn't spread deadly bird flu has been developed by scientists.
The bird is intended to prevent the outbreaks of avian influenza which lead to millions of birds being culled.
It could also stop new strains of flu mutating in domestic fowl and spreading to people, leading to killer worldwide pandemics.
The British team behind the GM chicken say it is 'inconceivable' that its meat or eggs could be harmful. However, it will need rigorous safety checks before it could go into the food chain, they said.
But anti GM campaigners warned that genetic engineering was not the answer to stopping bird flu - and said the public would never accept GM eggs and meat.
Avian flu is a serious threat to farmers and people. Although it does not easily infect humans, when it does it can be deadly.
The latest, most virulent strain - called H5N1 - has killed more than 300 people since 2003 in 15 countries and led to the deaths of millions of birds. In 2007 around 260,000 turkeys were culled in East Anglia after outbreaks of H5N1.
Doctors fear it could mutate in flocks of chickens into a new strain that is transmissible from person to person, fuelling a pandemic that kills millions of people.
<<<SNIP>>>
The chickens carry an extra gene that stops the flu virus replicating in their bodies. The gene - which was added to embryo chicks while they were in the egg - produces 'decoy' loops of RNA, the chemical cousin of DN, in cells throughout their bodies.
The decoy RNA interferes with the machinery that viruses use to make copies of themselves inside cells and spread throughout the body.
So although GM chickens fall ill and die from flu - they cannot pass it onto other birds or people.
In tests at the Veterinary Laboratories Agency in Weybridge, Surrey, infecte GM chickens fell sick but did not transmit the flu virus to normal birds kept in the same pen.
END EXCERPT
This is too good not to mock...
By David Derbyshire Daily Mail EXCERPT:
Last updated at 9:00 AM on 14th January 2011
A genetically modified 'superchicken' that doesn't spread deadly bird flu has been developed by scientists.
The bird is intended to prevent the outbreaks of avian influenza which lead to millions of birds being culled.
It could also stop new strains of flu mutating in domestic fowl and spreading to people, leading to killer worldwide pandemics.
The British team behind the GM chicken say it is 'inconceivable' that its meat or eggs could be harmful. However, it will need rigorous safety checks before it could go into the food chain, they said.
But anti GM campaigners warned that genetic engineering was not the answer to stopping bird flu - and said the public would never accept GM eggs and meat.
Avian flu is a serious threat to farmers and people. Although it does not easily infect humans, when it does it can be deadly.
The latest, most virulent strain - called H5N1 - has killed more than 300 people since 2003 in 15 countries and led to the deaths of millions of birds. In 2007 around 260,000 turkeys were culled in East Anglia after outbreaks of H5N1.
Doctors fear it could mutate in flocks of chickens into a new strain that is transmissible from person to person, fuelling a pandemic that kills millions of people.
<<<SNIP>>>
The chickens carry an extra gene that stops the flu virus replicating in their bodies. The gene - which was added to embryo chicks while they were in the egg - produces 'decoy' loops of RNA, the chemical cousin of DN, in cells throughout their bodies.
The decoy RNA interferes with the machinery that viruses use to make copies of themselves inside cells and spread throughout the body.
So although GM chickens fall ill and die from flu - they cannot pass it onto other birds or people.
In tests at the Veterinary Laboratories Agency in Weybridge, Surrey, infecte GM chickens fell sick but did not transmit the flu virus to normal birds kept in the same pen.
END EXCERPT
This is too good not to mock...
