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SCIENTISTS AIM TO BEAT FLU WITH GENETICALLY MODIFIED CHICKENS. (via Drudge)
www.timesonline.co.uk ^ | October 29, 2005 | Mark Henderson

Posted on 10/29/2005 7:14:22 AM PDT by blues_guitarist

The long-term threat of an avian flu pandemic could be greatly reduced by a project to produce genetically modified chickens that can resist lethal strains of the virus.
British scientists are genetically engineering chickens to protect them against the H5N1 virus that has devastated poultry farms in the Far East, with a view to replacing stocks with birds that are not susceptible to influenza.
The technique should also offer protection against many other strains of flu with the potential to start a human pandemic, such as the H7 subgroup that was responsible for an outbreak in Dutch poultry in 2003.
If chicken populations were to be replaced with transgenic birds that were resistant to flu, it would remove a reservoir of the virus and make it much harder for it to spread to humans and trigger a pandemic.
The team, led by Laurence Tiley, Professor of Molecular Virology at Cambridge University, and Helen Sang, of the Roslin Institute, near Edinburgh, has already shown that chicken cells can be protected against flu by inserting small pieces of genetic material.
The researchers are now ready to begin a similar procedure with eggs and the first experiments are expected within weeks. Any breakthrough, however, will come too late to have an impact on the present outbreak of H5N1.

(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: birdflu; genetically

1 posted on 10/29/2005 7:14:23 AM PDT by blues_guitarist
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To: blues_guitarist

Down on the farm...

2 posted on 10/29/2005 7:23:55 AM PDT by mikrofon (Chicken Runs)
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To: blues_guitarist

Given the fanatical fear of anything GM (Genetically Modified) in the UK, even if these transgenic birds resistant to flu do come about, no Brit will buy them!


3 posted on 10/29/2005 7:30:46 AM PDT by PlanoMike
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To: PlanoMike
Let people suffer from flu! It's better, you know, than suffering from taking any GM medicine! /s
4 posted on 10/29/2005 7:38:49 AM PDT by paudio (Four More Years..... Let's Use Them Wisely...)
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To: blues_guitarist
Trash TV of the 60s included such thought provoking entrees as "My Mother the Car" and the character Chicken Man. "He's everywhere, everywhere!"

I can't remember the series title, (it probably lasted 6-10 weeks and was gone by Thanksgiving). I've checked IMDB and under Chicken Man got a link to Wade Boggs? Any help out there?

5 posted on 10/29/2005 7:41:14 AM PDT by Young Werther
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To: paudio
Let people suffer from flu! It's better, you know, than suffering from taking any GM medicine!

I dunno maybe some folks just prefer Ford.
6 posted on 10/29/2005 7:41:58 AM PDT by festus (The constitution may be flawed but its a whole lot better than what we have now.)
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To: blues_guitarist

Somehow a picture of Joann Worley seems appropriate here.


7 posted on 10/29/2005 7:42:39 AM PDT by william clark
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To: festus

LOL... actually, based on an article I posted yesterday, most prefer Japanese cars... :-)


8 posted on 10/29/2005 7:46:20 AM PDT by paudio (Four More Years..... Let's Use Them Wisely...)
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To: paudio

We've genetically selected chickens for thousands of years (mostly by accident I imagine.)

So what's wrong with genetically selecting them now (directly and on purpose.)

It would take alot of eggs, however, to replace the entire poultry stock in the world, not to mention the 1,000's of different sub-breeds that exist.


9 posted on 10/29/2005 7:54:35 AM PDT by JustDoItAlways
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To: blues_guitarist
Great. They have created an immune strain of one kind of chicken. Now they just have to modify the three thousand distinct breeds and strains of chickens (some chosen for their premium eggs, some for their meat) as well as the several dozen different breeds of turkeys that are in demand, as well as Cornish game hens, geese, ducks, etc, etc and all the other various breeds of commercial fowl. and the problem will be solved.
10 posted on 10/29/2005 8:09:00 AM PDT by ElkGroveDan (California bashers will be called out)
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To: ElkGroveDan
Yeah....and the virus will take the opportunity opf new genetic material to mutate causing even more severe bird flu virus.

And thanks to Hillary Clinton for the federal vaccine program "for the children" that stopped research, drove most of the US vaccine makers out of business so we only have 3 left.

11 posted on 10/29/2005 8:42:06 AM PDT by spokeshave
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To: blues_guitarist

Just what we need. A pandemic of Mad Chicken disease.


12 posted on 10/29/2005 2:27:16 PM PDT by Mind-numbed Robot (Not all that needs to be done needs to be done by the government.)
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To: blues_guitarist

Here one robbing a gas station for beer.


13 posted on 10/29/2005 2:35:00 PM PDT by DainBramage
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