Pat's Note: One thing about this: pig health moves centre stage and
the deplorable state of Britain's pigs over the last nine years and
the consequent dangers to human health can't be hidden up any longer.

 I would imagine that the long delayed balloon will now go up.

The odd thing is that Defra doing the right things for a change throws
the ball directly into the hands of Gary Burkholder and his friends.

I always did think that the matter could not be handled properly in
Britain's culture of secrecy by a gang of bent vets and that the
"game" would be played out in the United States.

I did not expect xenotrans-plantation  to be the battleground.

http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5iiidqIqR5s9bbONbKnPYIiAkqdKQ


Scientists are breeding genetically modified pigs for organs
1 hour ago

LONDON — British and American scientists are breeding genetically
modified pigs in the hope of providing organs for transplant to
humans, the project leader wrote in a newspaper Sunday.

Scientists in London and California have begun conducting the genetic
experiments to find a solution to record-long waiting lists for organ
transplants, fertility specialist Robert Winston said in an opinion
piece written for Britain's Sunday Times.

In Britain alone, around 8,000 patients are waiting for a transplant.

"People needing a new heart or liver are waiting for someone else to
die - usually a violent death in a traffic accident," Winston wrote in
the newspaper. He said his team was "trying to modify pigs so their
organs might save the lives of humans."

The scientists are introducing human genes into the animals to reduce
the chances of the organs being rejected by patients, as has been
common in previous attempts to use animal tissues, said Wintston, who
heads the Institute of Reproductive and Developmental Biology at
London's Hammersmith Hospital.

Working in tandem with Dr. Carol Redhead of the California Institute
of Technology, Winston's team has injected human genes directly into
male piglets, adding them to the animal's sperm.

He said that pigs involved in experiments had successfully produced
transgenic sperm, but acknowledged that British and European laws had
prevented the team from using the pigs to mate.

The Sunday Times newspaper reported that the experiments would be
moved to the United States following difficulties with funding and
regulations in Britain. It said the pigs would be bred in Missouri.

"Our U.S. friends will benefit from our technology, and yet another
British innovation will be jeopardized; the income we might have
generated for Britain will be lost," Winston wrote.

Some scientists have previously criticized the idea of using animal
organs for human transplant, saying the technique risks spreading
animal viruses to humans. Winston said his research project is
attempting to breed virus-free pigs

-- 
Regards
Pat Gardiner
Release the results of testing British pigs for MRSA and C.Diff now!
www.go-self-sufficient.com  and http://animal-epidemics.blogspot.com/