Cloning Cows for Cuba

AVIDLY INTERESTED writes: "You've got to hand it to the Cubans. They have been surviving by hook or by crook since the collapse of Communism without the subsidies the USSR used to afford them. Now, according to this article at The Age they are using the ingenuity of their scientists to clone White Udder, the cow of all cows, that will cover an entire nation in healthy milk moustaches."

maybe they can modify the cows dna...

[Anonymous Coward]

...so it can't be tipped.

Alternative to cloning

[brejc8]

My grandfather used to work on cross breeding plants to have weak genes.
If you cross bred a weak gene plant with a normal plant then the offspring will inherit nearly all genes from the second plant.

This way when he found a particular wheat plant with very high level of protein he would cross breed it with the weak gene plants in order to reproduce it nearly intact.

This research was quickly forgotten when cloning came along.

Re:Alternative to cloning

[Drakin]

I don't thk that it was a cloneing issue that surplanted that technique, but actualy tinkering with the cells, genetic manipulation, that surplanted crossbreeding.

Re:Alternative to cloning

[John Hasler]

Nothing supplanted crossbreeding. Just because it doesn't get mentioned in the New York Times doesn't mean it isn't being done.

Re:Plant genetic engineering?

[brejc8]

Apples are very different from cannabis so they won't cross breed.
I have heard of gene labs which produced THC in eadable forms (eating leaves is not very good).

But this method would be used in making a weak gened cannabis plant then if you are lucky enough to find a high yeild plant you cross it with your weak one and you have a forest of very good crop plants.
Although original application was to make high protein wheat which can survive in Africa.

Re:Plant genetic engineering?

[RevAaron]

It's very possible and doable. But no, it would take a lot of money and time to do it. Far from kitchen chemistry. Maybe not billions, but millions. First, you'd need to determine the metabolic steps between water and CO2 to get to delta-9-tetrahydracannibol. [1] Figure out all the enzymes and proteins involved. Figure out where they are in the genome. Spice forever.

[1] Also, you must consider, do you want just D9-THC? Imbibing Cannabis is different than just taking a D9-THC injection or pill; there is a lot of other minor cannaboids (D9-THC is the most abundant) that add to the 'stoned' experience. You'd have to repeat this for each cannaboid!

Milk Isn't Healthy

[DrSkwid]

http://www.milksucks.com [milksucks.com]

Don't support the dairy industry it's trying to kill you.

The vitamins are added, the anti-biotics attack your immune system and to top it all you run the risk of Crohns Disease [and that aint nice - from one who knows].

Skip the cows and grow earth sapping mono-cultures instead [provamel.com]

Re:Milk Isn't Healthy

[John Hasler]

Horseshit. This is AR propaganda and it is all lies.

Are you eating Cloned Cuban Cow(tm)?

[Vuarnet]

They're tasty! They're good for you! they will help you defend your socialisty people from being conquered by the evil capitalist governments who want to destroy the last bastion of freedom and crush the socialist dream which will live on forever and ever and ever and... (snipped 4 hours of speech)

Plus, each Cloned Cuban Cow(tm) comes with it's own Fidel-like beard! Get them while they're new!

(Gloria Estefan and Celia Cruz do not speak for The Cloned Cuban Cow Company)

Healthy?

[hlh_nospam]

Cow's milk is good for baby cows, but not so good for humans. Human milk has substantially different nutritional profile. Plus, in nature, milk is not consumed by mammals past puberty. There is no such thing as a dairy "food group" (there is a dairy lobby , however).

So, by all means, let's encourage Cubans to consume dairy products, so that they will develop some of the same nutritionally-connected diseases that we have. While we are at it, let's export the whole USDA "food pyramid" myth.

Re:Healthy?

[Anonymous Coward]

Doesn't matter. Human beings have been using dairy products for millennia. The fact is, when it comes to human nutririon, we are omnivorous. If our brains weren't so clever about finding ways to eat just about anything, that might not be the case, but it's not. While it's true we cause ourselves nutritionally-related illnesses, historically that was a small price to pay to be able to subsist on animal husbandry. In addition, I think it's more common not to be lactose-intolerant than to be lactose intolerant. Apparently being able to consume dairy products is adaptive for humans.

No there is no such thing as a dairy food group, and indeed the USDA food pyramid is a scheme to support the agriculture industry and protect it from consumers radically changing their eating habit. But technically, there are no food groups at all, period. There is no such thing as a perfect human diet, we eat whatever we can figure out how, and that's just the way it is. Perhaps someday in the future we'll figure out ways to preserve our dietary variety without sacrificing our health, but until then, food technology (like other technologies) is imperfect. If everyone could enjoy their food as much as they do now and be Vegan, it might happen. But few people have the mettle for that.

Of my five best friends in high school, four were vegan. They've all reverted to being lacto-ovo vegetarian. The reason? They hated to eat what they were eating, and wanted to enjoy it again. Maybe some people can be happy with the vegan options, but that's a personal choice, and not the "objectively correct" one.

In short, it doesn't matter what mammals eat in nature. All that matters is what people eat, period.

Re:Healthy?

[cp99]

Is there any scientific evidence (peer reviewed etc) that diary products are bad for you? Or are you just pushing forward psuedoscience?

Re:Healthy?

[Guppy]

"Human milk has substantially different nutritional profile."

Just FYI, some differences between cow and human milk:

Human milk is much higher in lactose, making it both sweeter and higher in energy content. It is also lower in the protein casien, which give it a softer, more digestible curd. There are also some differences in the ratio of various amino acids and minerals.

Re:Healthy?

[Binestar]

Some further differances:

Human milk comes from Human Breasts/Udders.
Cow Milk comes from Cow Breasts/Udders.

Hope that helps.

just the beginning I'm sure

[josepha48]

When they outlaw in the US it will still be available abroad. Here we see an example of where the US has outlawed cloning, but they are doing it in Cuba. So you want to clone your child, I'm sure if you have the funds then you can go to cuba and have it done. (well maybe not now, but when it is possible and tested it will happen outside the US).

Re:just the beginning I'm sure

[sckeener]

Of course the US is being dumb about cloning, but there's politics in everything:

Exasperated by the Cuban Government's sentimental attachment to the long-dead White Udder, Mr Valdes has asked for asylum in the US, where he hopes that scientific research will not be as "politicised".

The wrong reason. A sad thing.

[texchanchan]

From the article: Dr Jose Morales, the head of the White Udder cloning project at the Havana Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, is confident a breakthrough is imminent. "We're very close," he said. "We have big things coming. This project is very important to Commandante Castro."

I bet some appropriate technology measures would fit the situation better than this. Or even just the old cure-all: training and education. Cuba overcame illiteracy. Surely they could also provide county agent-like services [reeusda.gov] to their farmers to overcome the described decline in cattle health and performance. Here's a description of county agents from 1925 [ncsu.edu]. This sounds like exactly the kind of thing that Communists would be good at--government paternalism. Paternalistic or not, extension agents vastly improved the practices and lifestyle of rural Americans for the better during the mid-20th century.

On the question of whether milk is good for you, it's got a lot of protein, calcium, and fat that you need when you're very young. And fortunately children aren't generally lactose-intolerant. That sets in, when it does, after puberty usually.

P.S. Slashdot meetup URL [meetup.com]

Got Milk?

[jpaz]

Mmmmm.....

Daisy Fuentes with a milk moustache.

Now *that's* what Cuba's good for!

waste of money

[atatakami]

Cuba has enough economic problems without wasting it's money on cloning. It'll probably cost them as much to develop a cloning program to clone this one cow as it would to begin fixing the root problem: lack of good nutrition for the cattle. That would be money much better spent. After all, no matter how wonderful this "White Udder" is, without adequate food, it's not going to be any healthier then any of the other cows, and it sure as hell won't improve Cuba's economy and quality of life by itself.

Aren't they worried...

[tlambert]

...about "mad clone" disease?

-- Terry