Tag: transgenic animals

The ethical issues considered for developing transgenic animals are yielding capacity, long term effect on the environment, quality of the breed. They include bioethicists, environmentalists. the results of genetic alteration would be suffered and hence such experimentation should be banned (Eg, a pig with no legs)

The genetic engineering of animals has increased significantly in recent years, and the use of this technology brings with it ethical issues, some of which relate to animal welfare — defined by the World Organisation for Animal Health as “the state of the animal.

Acrylamide does not form, or forms at lower levels, in dairy, meat, and fish products. so the enzymatic degradation of lactose in dairy produts can reduce the acrylamide.

Alpha-lactalbumin is a major milk whey protein. It is involved in the process of lactose synthesis. The first transgenic cow was produced with human alpha-lactalbumin gene introduced into it. The milk of transgenic cow contained about 2.4 grams/lit of human protein.

When the transgenic mice were a few weeks old, they were given drinking water containing zinc. Mice carrying the transgene grew to twice the size of their litter mates because the metallothionein enhancer sequence stimulated by zinc had increased growth hormone production.