...the other white meat?

FDA seeks altered-gene piglets sold as food
Thu Feb 6, 7:21 AM ET

Elizabeth Weise USA TODAY

The Food and Drug Administration (news - web sites)
said Wednesday that it is trying to track down as many
as 386 piglets that might have been genetically
engineered and wrongfully sold into the U.S. food
supply.

The focus of the FDA investigation are pigs raised by
researchers at the University of Illinois in
Urbana-Champaign. They engineered the animals with two
genes: One is a cow gene that increases milk
production in the sow. The other, a synthetic gene,
makes the milk easier for piglets to digest. The goal
was to raise bigger pigs faster.

There has been no evidence that either genetically
altered plants or animals trigger human illness, but
critics warn that potential side effects remain
unknown. University officials say their tests showed
the piglets were not born with the altered genes, but
FDA rules require even the offspring of genetically
engineered animals to be destroyed so they don't get
into the food supply.

The FDA, in a quickly arranged news conference
Wednesday prompted by inquiries by USA TODAY, said the
University of Illinois will face possible sanctions
and fines for selling the piglets to a livestock
broker, who in turn sells to processing plants.

Both the FDA and the university say the pigs that
entered the market do not pose a risk to consumers.
But the investigation follows action by the U.S.
Department of Agriculture (news - web sites) in
December to fine a Texas company that contaminated
500,000 bushels of soybeans with corn that had been
genetically altered to produce a vaccine for pigs.

Opponents see such cases as evidence of the need for
more government oversight of a burgeoning area of
scientific research.

''This is a small incident, but it's incidents like
this that could destroy consumer confidence and export
confidence,'' said Stephanie Childs of the Grocery
Manufacturers of America. ''We already have Europe
shaky on biotech. The countries to whom we export are
going to look at this.''

The University of Illinois said it tested the DNA of
every piglet eight times to make sure that the animal
hadn't inherited the genetic engineering of its
mother. Those piglets that did were put back into the
study. Those that didn't were sold to the pig broker.

''Any pig that has tested negative for the genes since
1999 has been sent off to market,'' said Charles
Zukoski, vice chancellor for research.

But FDA deputy commissioner Lester Crawford said that
under the terms of the university's agreement with the
FDA, the researchers were forbidden to remove the
piglets without FDA approval.

''The University of Illinois failed to check with FDA
to see whether or not the animals could be sold on the
open market. And they were not to be used under any
circumstance for food,'' he said.

The FDA is responsible for regulating and overseeing
transgenic animals because such genetic manipulation
is considered an unapproved animal drug.



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