This little piggy’s manure causes less pollution. This little piggy
produces extra milk for her babies. And this little piggy makes fatty acids
normally found in fish, so that eating its bacon might actually be good for
you.
The three pigs, all now
living in experimental farmyards, are among the genetically engineered animals
whose meat might one day turn up on American dinner plates. Bioengineers have
also developed salmon that grow to market weight in about half the typical
time, disease-resistant cows and catfish needing fewer antibiotics, and goats
whose milk might help ward off infections in children who drink it.
Only now, though, do federal
officials seem to be getting serious about drafting rules that would determine
whether and how such meat, milk and filets can safely enter the nation’s food
supply.
Some scientists and
biotechnology executives say that by having the Food and Drug Administration
spell out the rules of the game, big investors would finally be willing to put
up money to create a market in so-called transgenic livestock.
“Right now, it’s very hard to
get any corporate investment,” said James D. Murray, a professor at the
But some experts caution that
even if the F.D.A. clears the regulatory path in coming months, investors and
agribusiness companies might still shy away. Many fear that consumers would
shun foods from transgenic animals, sometimes referred to as genetically
modified organisms, or G.M.O.’s.
“The companies we have spoken
to have gone organic, and they are very concerned, at least up to the present time,
of having G.M.O. associated with their name,” said Cecil W. Forsberg, a
professor at the