China Daily recently reported that a herd of 200 cows have been genetically modified to produce human milk.
It seems this news development puts a sock in the mouths of the folks who insist that cow milk is for baby cows only and that humans shouldn’t be drinking it!
Seriously though, this shocking development actually did occur at an exhibition of technological advancements for China’s 11th 5 year plan (2006-2010). Photos of the cows were showcased at the exhibition along with some head scratching comments by head engineer Li Ning, Director of the State Key Laboratories for AgroBiotechnolgy at China Agricultural University:
“In ancient China, only the emperor and the empress could drink human milk throughout their lives, which was believed to be the height of opulence. Why not make that kind of milk more available for ordinary people?”
Li went on to add that this new technology is important as it makes affordable to the ordinary consumer the healthy proteins found in human breastmilk.
Li also claimed that products containing human milk produced by cows would be on supermarket shelves within 10 years and that the GM milk would be as safe to drink as milk from ordinary cows.
After reading this story, one can’t help but wonder if people who drink this milk grow bolts on their neck or if children who consume it say “Moo” instead of “Mama” as a first word?
Sarah, TheHealthyHomeEconomist.com
Source: China Daily
Picture Credit
Sue
I personally try to avoid as much as possible GM foods. If I pick up something at the store and read the label as I normally do to check if it has anything suspect sounding and I see anything that remotely sounds like GM i put it back.
We have not been told whether GM is even safe for human consumption, yet there it is in foods the world over, this I find disturbing, but that is the importance of educating yourself for the sake of your own health and that of your family.
Sadly it comes back to $$$ and companies like Monsanto that have power.
Whatever you do, dont cosume GM.
Sheila
The only way this could be done would be to graft human genetic material into a cow embryo, making a human-cow hybrid. NOT COOL. Then you’ve got human mammary cells inside a cow … would that make human milk? Not really … maybe it would be similar to human milk … but you’d surely have some cow proteins in there as well.
Yes, human milk is liquid gold and wonderful and perfectly designed for humans. The reason we don’t all drink it is because it’s too precious, so we give it only to those who need it the most, little children. BUT, that doesn’t mean mixing people and cows suddenly makes sense!
What is WRONG with people?!
Christian
Ahem… you realize that the bottle in the photograph is from Japan, not China, right? Did y’all just grab any random “Chinese-looking” bottle for the article?
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
Hi Christian, this question is answered above.
Ireland ( yes thats my real name!)
What a crazy thing to do!!! Cows where not made for us so we could “play” with their genetic codes!!! Talk about wired! And its not “people”milk- its cow milk in a horrible state! This should have a huge WARNING sign all over it, Don’t you think so????!!!????
watchmom3
Well, as they say, “Everything that goes around…” This is just more of the “Tower of Babel” and a shining example of man’s ignorance. Sad to see that common sense is not used in things of this consequence. Thanks Sarah, for paying attention. We need to know, so we can teach our children and at least discuss the right or wrong of any situation.