Transgenic Cows Research Paper

According to Ohio State University, Brangus cows originated from Brahman and Angus cattle. Brangus cattle come in different colors such as red and black. The Brangus breed is actually a very muscular breed. Brangus have ears that are similar to Brahman, a little droopy. They have an appealing look, they have a smaller hump-like figure on their backs similar to a Brahman. Brangus cows can be a mix of one to three-quarters brahman, the rest Angus.

“Genetic engineering and selective breeding appear to violate animal rights, because they involve manipulating animals for human ends as if the animals were nothing more than human property, rather than treating the animals as being of value in themselves” (Source A). Even though genetic engineering violates animal rights, it can be good for animals as well. Such as improving their resistance to diseases and removing characteristics that cause injury (Example: a cattle without horns). However, the cons to genetically engineering animals offsets the pros. Whenever animals are genetically engineered, it can lead to abnormalities. These abnormalities can range from heart discomfort to physical abnormalities (i.e. a body growing too fast that the growth of the legs are not able to grow at the same speed not be able to withstand the weight of the body). The abnormalities that the animals would have to live with from genetical engineering would cause the animal much pain. Therefore enforcing the fact that genetic engineering on animals is

“We can change animals faster and in more profound ways than nature does on its own, but the point is that there’s inherently sacred about a species genome- it’s an amorphous, ever changing thing.”(Anthes, 48) One of the biggest controversies of biotechnology is that people are getting God-like powers seems how now scientists are able to engineer new traits into animals. Is that wrong? Morally, maybe. The fact of the matter is whether it’s immoral or not, we’ve been doing it for thousands of years, but now just faster and actually more efficiently. Scientists don’t plan on worsening animals or abusing them. “If you’re going to modify a line of animals, the resultant animals should be no worse off from a welfare point of view – and preferably better.”(Bernard Rollin) If nations eventually accept biotechnology more openly, and simply apply regulations stating that one cannot produce an organism that is not better off than it was before. That would ensure the protection of animals from unnecessary handicapped lives, and then the FDA would be more comfortable with allowing these biotechnological advances to be released to the

BSE, Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, otherwise known as mad cow disease refers to the changes seen in brain tissue of affected cows. This disease is normally found in adult cows and it slowly but aggressively affects their central nervous system. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) continuingly does testing on US cattle to prevent this disease from spreading to human consumers. There are several ways the disease can affect the human body, there are ways we can treat it, but most importantly there are ways we can prevent it.

Scientists can use viruses for delivering genes into your body. They disable the part of the virus that makes you sick and replace it with the healthy gene which then gets delivered to where it needs to go. (Ron Fridell, 12/1/09, p.30) Scientists have genetically modified animals as well in many ways which help produce a lot more food. Catfish have been modified so they grow all year round instead of just in the summer. By this happening farmers can breed and sell more catfish in a shorter amount of time. (Ron Fridell, 12/1/09, p.21). Also salmon have been engineered so they grow a lot larger than normal to provide more meat. These transgenic salmon create a lot more meat in the time normal salmon create less meat. Also there are cows that have been engineered so that they make several different kinds of milk. They can produce milk that is more easily digested by people who are lactose intolerant and milk with a longer shelf life. Also scientists can engineer cows that produce milk with a lower amount of fat so that it makes better cheese. This helps provide more food because people who where not previously able to drink milk now can and it also lasts longer as it will not spoil as quickly as normal milk. (http://www.geneticsandsociety.org/article. php?id=386, 12/1/09). Scientists have also found a way to save money and protect crops at the same time. Because pesticides cost a lot to buy and it takes time to spray the

When speaking about genetically modified or genetically engineered organisms, an important distinction must be made. This new breed of technology does not use traditional means of gene

If the only justification for these animal tests is if the only animal use in experimentation provides greater benefit to the health of humankind than the cost to the animals. Clinical trials, especially for drugs for alzheimers, asthma, polio, antibiotics, meningitis, and other critical diseases go through animal testing phases before reaching human test groups. Some of these drugs have been trialled successfully in humans, but their safety and efficacy was first established in small and observable animal populations. It begs the question that- if animals are hurt by testing, but in the long run, human lives are saved, what is morally correct?

Cows produce a protein in their milk called BLG and many infants are allergic to this protein. Two to three hundred infants are allergic to cow’s milk, and BLG allergies are seemingly a large part of this. Various organizations are trying to investigate ways to manipulate the genetic material in the modified dairy cattle with the main goal of producing milk that doesn’t contain the lethal BLG protein. Daisy is a genetically modified cloned cow and whom does not produce milk containing the BLG protein but does however have the gene for it. But the mRNA for the BLG protein has become nonfunctional. Once the protein has been manipulated the cow containing the modified gene is cloned to produce a calf with the same genetic material. This cloned cow will then not produce the protein. This technique is very useful to produce a herd without the protein to gather more milk. Because of this protein produced (BLG) this causes a lot of people and infants to become very sick and ill. Therefore by creating a herd of cows using the processes of Gene Knockdown and Cloning this would not only cut out the lethal protein of BLG, but this will also create cows that don’t possess the BLG protein and therefore creating healthy milk for all to drink.

“Animals undergoing testing can be subjected to torture and suffering” (Humanity, 2017, p. 1). Some animals may be cured of their ailments and diseases, but not all. In some cases, the animal dies do to the treatment. Humane treatment of the animals is a valid concern, so the use of them in experiments has been greatly regulated. “This has led to the 3Rs campaign, which advocates the search (1) for the replacement of animals with non-living models; (2) reduction in the use of animals; and (3) refinement of animal use products” (Hajar, 2011, p. 1). The Animal Welfare Act was signed to protect certain animals from cruel treatment, but the animals chosen for testing aren’t covered by this act. Many people believe that animal testing is unethical since animals are

There are many benefits to GMO’s with global population rising it is great to have food that can resist weeds, pests and other diseases. Farmers can also benefit from the modified foods. GMO’s can allow farmers to plant more crops on less land, and because many plants have built in weed control farmers use less money and machinery to spray these crops with as much pesticides, which is also safer for humans to consume you don't have to worry about how

For thousands of years, the usage of livestock has been one of the primary sources of food for human consumption. From cows to goats, and even horses, humans have raised these animals in order to obtain a good source of food and fiber, as well as the increase of labor. The three most consumed livestock in the world are cattle, chicken, and pigs; out of the three, pigs are the ones that have one of the biggest environmental impacts. Like many living organisms, pigs need many sources that provide the required nutrients for their system: one of those nutrients happens to be Phosphorus. This element performs important functions in cells and organs, which leads to the formation of teeth and bones, as well as cell walls (Forsberg). Crops like corn and cereal grains naturally contain phosphorous, which is why farmers use these as the primary food source for pigs; the problem with these crops is that the kind of phosphorous produced by them is indigestible for pigs. In order to help pigs process the amount of phosphorous present in their meals, farmers feed them an enzyme called “Phytase” as a supplement, which allows the animals to break down the phosphorous, facilitating their digestion (Rou).

Farmers are using different technology for breeding. They used selective breeding to produce animals that exhibit desirable traits and they get more benefit from it. For example, using breeding techniques farmers makes cows which produce more milk with less lactose, and sheep which produce more wool. Farmers accept this new selective breeding technology because in the past, farmers would use growth hormones to promote such qualities. This became problematic when residue of the hormones remained in the meat, leaving it with a foul taste. When researchers began to clone transgenic animals, it became possible to develop certain traits in animals, which increased the quality of their yield. When a farmer would like to raise the standards of a herd, the breeding process is very slow and sometimes incomes can decrease (Wilmut 23). Many times when relying on sexual breeding alone to mass-produce these animals, there are chances of breeding out the desired traits (Freudenrich). Transgenic animal cloning will result in higher quality meats and dairies without the use of artificial hormones. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration released in January 2008 concluded “edible products from normal, healthy clones or their progeny do not appear to pose increased food consumption risks relative to comparable products from conventional animals.” After 2008, US Food and Drug Administrative agree to use

The parade of genetically engineered marvels, during the past recent years, has been shocking: “Flavr-Savr” tomatoes that stay fresher longer; “giant salmon” that grow 37 times faster than the normal fish; “transgenic” pigs that are injected with human genes which causes them to produce milk with human protein that prevents blood clotting; and “supermice” injected with rat growth genes which makes them grow twice their normal size, are just a few.

In the technology of genetic engineering of animals the first essential step is to ensure that the

Transgenesis is the genetic modification of the traits of an organism through the transfer of genetic material from one species to another [8]. This method is when a gene is inserted into a different specie so that the organism will attain the desired gene from the foreign (different) specie. These organisms can express the genes from foreign species because the genetic code for all organisms is similar which results in that particular DNA sequence that codes for the same proteins and therefore the same trait and will be present in the newly inserted foreign organism containing the desired gene.