Udderly Ridiculous

How do you even categorize news like this?  A sign of the apocolypse?  Stupid Human Tricks?

In case this tantalizing tidbit of technological transcendence has eluded your perusal, I am talking about the announcement that scientists have genetically modified COWS to produce HUMAN MILK, as you can read about in this article by Richard Gray, Science Correspondent.

The milk tastes stronger than normal milk.

Really?  I don’t remember.

Seriously, they have created around 300 of these animals to produce human breast milk.  Isn’t science wonderful?  Always pushing the envelope, breaking down barriers, answering unanswerable questions.

Like WHY?

They hope genetically modified dairy products from herds of similar cows could be sold in supermarkets.

Well there’s the answer:  MONEY.

But just who is the target consumer?  Babies?  Most don’t have disposable income; just disposable diapers.  What kind of mother is going to buy this, this, this . . . . MILK, and feed it to her baby?  What baby is going to choose to feed itself this way?

China is now leading the way in research on genetically modified food and the rules on the technology are more relaxed than those in place in Europe.

That makes me feel better.  With quality like that we can expect the milk to be high in formaldehyde, arsenic, and lead and as well.

“The modified bovine milk is a possible substitute for human milk. It fulfilled the conception of humanising the bovine milk.”

There are horror movies with weaker plots than this.

The researchers also insist having antimicrobial proteins in the cows milk can also be good for the animals by helping to reduce infections of their udders.

I am going to assume that this is a big problem for cows, probably right up there with mad cow disease.  Angry Udder Discharge.

Offspring of cloned animals often suffer health and welfare problems, so this would be a grave concern.

Health and welfare problems?  Loss of  insurance?  Will these cows  have to find jobs instead of getting their monthly checks?

Regardless of the ethical issues, I think it is quite clear that these genes still make the cows look fat.