<br />OIHl433
<br />
<br />10. Jack Doyle, 1985. Quoting George Kidd of L. Wm.Teweles & Co.,
<br />Genewatch 2(2-4):3.
<br />11. BWG, p. 2l.
<br />12. National Research Council. p. 44.
<br />13. M. Sun, 1986. "Engineering Crops to Resist Weed Killers," Scienee.
<br />231:1360,1361.
<br />14. Hope Strand, June 90. "Test Tube Agriculture," Dollars &" Sense.
<br />15. BWG, p. 21.
<br />16. BWG, p. 24.
<br />17. Jack Doyle, 1985. Altered Harvest. Viking Penguin Press, N.Y.,
<br />N.Y., p. 358.
<br />
<br />18. Chuck Hassebrook and Gabriel Hegye., 1989. Choices for the
<br />Heartland, Center for Rural Affairs, WalthiD, NE, p.2l.
<br />19. Ha...brook & Hegyes, p. 87.
<br />20. BWG, p. 21.
<br />21. Doyle. 1989. "Biotechnology is not Sustainable Agriculture,- Not
<br />Man Apart, 19:4, p.lO.
<br />22. Ha8sebrook & Hegye8, p. 87.
<br />23. BWG, p. 5,5.
<br />24. Marty Strange, 1988. Family Farming, Univ. of Nebraska Press.
<br />Lincoln, NE, p. 46.
<br />
<br />Brave New Pigs: .Part Human, Part Machine
<br />Kathy CaUmer
<br />
<br />The simple act of biting into a ham sandwich
<br />may soon qualify as cannibalism. If genetic engineers
<br />at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Ohio Univer-
<br />sity, Dow and Monsanto have their way, pigs whose
<br />chromosomes have been spliced with human genes
<br />may be on the market in less than ten years.' Aherd
<br />offorty such pigs-all of which carry human genes
<br />that code for the production of human growth
<br />hormone-is under study at the USDA's Agricultural
<br />Research Center in Beltsville, MD.'
<br />Of course, since nature never intended for pig
<br />and human genes to intermix, there are side effects.
<br />The price of genetic tinkering is paid by the pigs
<br />themselves, which suffer from arthritis, anestru~,
<br />lack of libido, pneumonia,ulcers, lack of rear-leg
<br />coordination, and increased susceptibility to stress.'
<br />These creatures interest agricultural research-
<br />ers because they are leaner than other pigs and have
<br />greater feed conversion efficiency, that is, they
<br />require less feed to attain a particular weight. The
<br />human gene insertion even offers the possibility of
<br />cutting seven weeks offthe,time it takes before a pig
<br />is readyforslaughter" For pork producers looking at .
<br />the bottom line, less feed and shorter f"Inishing time
<br />mean lower costs and thus, greater prof"Its. Evi-
<br />dently, making proflts overrides such moral problems
<br />as what Wes Jackson calls "creeping cannibalism."
<br />Today, we insert two or three human genes; tomor-
<br />row, twenty, thirty, a hundred? At what point is a
<br />pig no longer a pig?
<br />The pigs at Beltsville are but one exhibit in the
<br />brave new world of genetically engineered animals,
<br />creatures whose very existence represents a radical
<br />break from evolutionary history. Down through the
<br />centuries, almost every culture in the world has had
<br />strict taboos against bestiality, or sex between hu-
<br />mans and animals, which was seen as a violjltion of
<br />natural law. Nature's wisdom in setting boundaries
<br />between species was assumed and respected. When
<br />people did engage in liaisons with animals, nature at
<br />least provided a control: Offspring were not biologi-
<br />cally possible.
<br />
<br />Now molecular biologists have g{)ne beyond the
<br />obscene. Making an end run around nature'sres,tric-,
<br />tions, genetic engineers are mixing genes from, many
<br />distantly related species of organisms to produce
<br />progeny that nature would never allow. Gene splic-
<br />ing-()r recombinant ,DNA technology-allows biolo-
<br />gists to insert mouse genes into sheep,bacterial genes
<br />into cows, human genes into pigs. The resulting
<br />offspring are known as transgenic animals.
<br />Whereas mules-the product of,conventionally
<br />crossing horses and donkeys-are sterile, transgenic
<br />animals are capable of reproducing and thus passing
<br />on their altered genetic endowment into perpetuity.
<br />And unlike conventional bre,e,ding, genetic engineer-
<br />ing gives biotechnologi.sts the potential to splice genes
<br />from any species into any other, no matter how far
<br />apart evolutionarily those species may be.
<br />It has been suggested that such drastic inter-
<br />ventions in the animal kingdom may have unforeseen
<br />environmental repercussions.6 Despite the concerns
<br />of some scientists, however, a tightly knit alliance of
<br />universities, government agencies, corporations and
<br />venture capital f"Irms has jumped on the biotechnol-
<br />ogy bandwagon, sinking millions of dollars into
<br />research on transgenic animals.
<br />President Reagan's 1986 signing of the Federal
<br />Technology Transfer Act made it possible for federal
<br />laboratories and private companies to engage in
<br />cooperative research projects. Even the trade publi-
<br />cation, Genetic Engineering News, admitted that "the
<br />idea of government, industry and university collabo-
<br />ration, given their traditional penchant for 'separa-
<br />tism,' is quite alien to American enterprise."
<br />Nevertheless, promises of regional "economic
<br />development," especially in areas hard hit by the loss
<br />of U.S. jobs in manufacturing and heavy industry,
<br />have given impetus to the formation of biotech
<br />consortiums involving the private, public, and aca-
<br />demic sectors. In its "Directory of Biotech Centers
<br />1989," Genetic Engineering News listed 57 such
<br />centers in the United States!
<br />The Edison Animal Biotechnology Center
<br />
<br />19
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