Chinese Firm Can Now Produce 500 Cloned Pigs Per Year 156
Sockatume writes "According to an article published by the BBC, Chinese firm BGI has refined cloning procedures to the point where they can produce 500 pigs per year, performing two embryo implantations per day with a 70-80% success rate. Much of the operation is concerned with producing genetically-engineered animals for research. The biotech firm's other work includes million-individual-scale animal and plant genetic sequencing."
Finally! (Score:5, Funny)
Mankind's millennia-long dream for perfect bacon is nearing realization!
Re:Finally! (Score:4, Funny)
Oh, and bread DNA, baked beans DNA, orange juice DNA, coffee DNA, newspaper DNA, naging wife DNA, sunrise DNA and some razorburn DNA and we are all set for the day!
What a glorious future it will be!
Re: (Score:2)
and now they are at it... why not implement some chicken DNA as well. Have bacon and egg`s in one go.
Wait, wouldn't that open the floodgates of hell and lead to Avian Flu and Swine Flu combining into the Death and Breakfast Flu?
Oh the humanity!
Re:Finally! (Score:4, Funny)
Breakfast Flu?
In this country we call that a "hangover".
Re: (Score:2)
No no no, keep out the nagging wife DNA and the razor burn DNA.
Re: (Score:2)
If you keep out the nagging wife DNA, you can't have any children.
Unless...
They also clone you! Genius!
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
Fluorescent pigs are already a thing:
http://www.thesleuthjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/glow-in-the-dark-pigs.jpg
Bacon you can find in the dark!
Ambrosia (Score:2)
EOF.
Re: (Score:2)
Bacon: Food of the gods!
EOF.
if you lift your hands to heaven you will have bacon from 500 pigs...
Re: (Score:2, Flamebait)
If so; please count me out, I hate religion. Turns ostensibly sensible people into *nutters*.
You missed it! (Score:2)
Re: if you lift your hands to heaven you will have bacon from 500 pigs...
Peasant! Cretin! Varlet! Thou roynish shard-borne coxcomb!
Click it: Linky [youtube.com]
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Inviting the most downmods in my entire history of posting to slashdot, but bacon isn't that good, in fact being one of the least flavorful cuts of meat, and I wish the internet would come to terms with that fact.
Re: (Score:3)
A bacon & runny egg roll from a greasy spoon is the absolute best hangover cure. Certainly the tastiest.
If you think bacon tasteless you're buying it from the wrong place, try a local butcher.
Mine can be found here http://www.wards-meats.co.uk/products.htm [wards-meats.co.uk]
Re: (Score:2)
I mean, it's not "grilled chicken breast" level of flavorless that it can't stand on it's own, but even from pigs, bacon doesn't stand up to a good rib or loin.
Re: (Score:2)
Top tip: Try bacon from a local butcher's shop, dry cured & not pumped full of nasty salty water.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Don't buy the salted bacon at the local supermarket, go to the butchers.
Re: (Score:2)
I'm sorry, but "it's really good if you find a good source" is a claim that applies to every single foodstuff. I can compare supermarket apples to supermarket oranges, and still know my local farmers market does both better.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I think that's the point, really: to make it taste good you need to cure and smoke it to the point where you could have used cardboard dipped in lard without noticing much of a difference.
Re: (Score:2)
You're wrong. In fact bacon can have a lot of flavor.
Sadly, it's hard to find any restaurant that sells a proper bacon cut.. so you get a thin as paper tasteless piece of trash.
Thick cut, cooked in the oven will give you tender and flavorful bacon.
However, the bacon fad has , thankfully, peaked. becasue, you do not need bacon on everything.
Nothing in my post should be taken as trying to get you to like bacon. Simply to point out that there can be very flavorful bacon.
Re: (Score:2)
Mankind's millennia-long dream for perfect bacon is nearing realization!
It's the exact same bacon, but does it taste better?
"when i realized my breakfast bacon tasted precisely like my breakfast bacon of two months back, why, my MONOCLE POPPED RIGHT OUT!"
Re: (Score:2)
It's the exact same bacon, but does it taste better?
It's probably not the exact same bacon. I expect terroir [wikipedia.org] will come into play - minor differences in diet and season may produce obvious differences in the fat marbling and quality. Also, there's sure to be variance in processing (this batch was smoked with 7 year old hickory twigs, where that batch was smoked with 9 year old hickory sticks - the wood-to-bark ratio changes the flavor in subtle and mysterious ways...)
Re: (Score:3)
It's the exact same bacon, but does it taste better?
It's probably not the exact same bacon. I expect terroir [wikipedia.org] will come into play - minor differences in diet and season may produce obvious differences in the fat marbling and quality. Also, there's sure to be variance in processing (this batch was smoked with 7 year old hickory twigs, where that batch was smoked with 9 year old hickory sticks - the wood-to-bark ratio changes the flavor in subtle and mysterious ways...)
I can't help but project the cloning of 500 pigs is pointless if you do not raise them on precisely the same diet, same amount, same schedule. Otherwise you could just leave it to nature to create 500 piglets for you.
Re: (Score:2)
They've already said that they can currently do two implantations per day.
Assuming we get a 12 piglet litter per implantation, that's a result of 24 piglets per day... so all 500 won't be on the same schedule with the current production methods.
Re: (Score:2)
I can't help but project the cloning of 500 pigs is pointless if you do not raise them on precisely the same diet, same amount, same schedule. Otherwise you could just leave it to nature to create 500 piglets for you.
Feeding 500 pigs exactly the same diet, same amount, same schedule is trivial compared to creating 500 cloned pigs. Isn't that how many farmed pigs are fed now?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Yep. My family's small time operation in the 90s produced well over 500 feeder pigs each year - no cloning involved.
Re: (Score:2)
These 500 pigs must be the second batch to replace the one's they found dead and floating down a river in China a few months ago.
We already have enough police officers (Score:5, Funny)
We already have enough police officers. We don't need a clone factory.
Re: (Score:2)
We already have enough police officers. We don't need a clone factory.
That's what you think. Robocop 2014 [youtube.com] is being released next month.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Why do they make remake for movies that do not require remakes?
Well, there's always this one [imdb.com]
Re: (Score:2)
Ok. (Score:2)
I am fine with cloning. Now heck even for food. Meat is meat. Still I think it is cheaper to take a male pig and a female pig and just raise them the old way and get just as good results for cheaper.
If you have issues with cloning then you probably should have issues with identical twins.
Re: (Score:3)
Right in the summary is says these are used for research.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, yes, but is it gastronomical or gastrophysical research?
Waste not, want not.
Re: (Score:2)
Yep, and they'll be valuable for that purpose. I wonder what will happen to that value when the inevitable virus turns up/evolves that the cloned strain of pigs is susceptible to. If the cloned strain makes it out of the research labs and into food production (because the owner of the cloned strain decide they could make a lot of money selling the pigs for food), and one year they all die off because of a new version of swine flu or whatever, then logically the price of pork products will go up and up as de
Re: (Score:3)
Ah, the ad hominem response. Please, educate me.
Is it impossible or even highly unlikely that cloned animals would be susceptible to a new strain of virus, and die in large numbers?
Is genetic diversity the best or at least one of the better defences against evolving disease strains?
Are monoculture crops susceptible to large-scale die-off when a new or evolved virus appears on the scene? Hint - Irish potato famine.
Is it smart to breed species that need long-term support to remain productive?
Tell me where I'm
Re: (Score:2)
Except they will be patented... and your bacon price will reflect licensing costs....
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
If you have issues with cloning then you probably should have issues with identical twins.
I would have issues with identical twins if they were industrially produced (and to be eaten no less) and posed a thread to non-cloned reproduction.
Re: (Score:2)
If you have issues with cloning then you probably should have issues with identical twins.
I would have issues with identical twins if they were industrially produced (and to be eaten no less) and posed a thread to non-cloned reproduction.
At only 500 per year, of even 100 times that, I don't think there is a problem. Remember that they still need to gestated in a pig.
One boar and several sows can do that without all the drama.
Re: (Score:1)
I'm not talking of the 500 now, but of where the whole thing shall lead to.
Re: (Score:2)
Given the same number of sows, subtract the scientists, the laboratory, the uncertainty, and one boar.
It will always be cheaper to just breed them.
The average litter size in pigs is between 8 and 12 piglets per large pig.
Re: (Score:2)
Until American taste for bacon means that the pigs can't even breed anymore.
Like for turkey.
Whether coned bacon would beat inseminated bacon is a question you need to ask to the guy extracting the male contribution...
Re: (Score:2)
Well, one danger in cloning is that it may hamper the diversity, and therefore may make the pigs more vulnerable to illnesses. This is not so much an issue if it's only animals for research, but if a large number of the animals for food are cloned, it's a real danger.
After all, there's a reason why animals evolved to use sexual reproduction almost exclusively, although asexual reproduction is much more efficient. Sexual reproduction guarantees that the offspring has sufficiently diverse genetics that the il
Re: (Score:2)
I saw what you did there...
Re: (Score:2)
Keep in mind, these are not food animals but research critters. You don't want the variability of sexual reproduction when you're testing (for example) the effects of different combinations of multi-drug cocktails, or the interaction between different percentages of heavy metal contamination. The people who have created goats that produce desired drugs in their milk have had trouble with the inserted gene being bred out, cloning would prevent that.
Re: (Score:2)
However, if you were doing a study on the effects of Drug X on Pigs (or any other animal).. having a dozen genetically identical pigs would be a huge benefit. I imagine it would make the statistical margins smaller.
Can I get a copy of myself. (Score:1)
Re:Can I get a copy of myself. (Score:5, Funny)
Can I send my salive and get a copy of myself in 9-10 months? How much that will cost?
Might I suggest a half-clone. They're way cheaper and a hell of a lot more fun to make.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Obviously never been married. On both advantages.
Re: (Score:2)
What does marriage have to do with it?
Re: (Score:2)
Also with a clone, when he turns out to be a disappointment you have no one to blame but yourself.
With a half clone, at least you have plausible deniability
Re: (Score:2)
> Maybe making them is inexpensive
Beforehand, there's champagne and flowers
During the build, there are strawberries and ice cream
And, like the local loop, the most expensive is the last few inches.
If you have a factory in a third-world country, it's cheap, but the odds of issues are higher. If you have a first-world factory, even making them is expensive.
The only part that's cheap is the checkout process when you are ordering.
Re: (Score:2)
Can I send my salive and get a copy of myself in 9-10 months?
Are you a pig?
Re: (Score:3)
Can I send my salive and get a copy of myself in 9-10 months?
Are you a pig?
Are you saying the same can't be done with humans?
Are you sure its not being done already?
70 to 80 percent success rate is high enough for more than a few women to choose this,
to say nothing about with a gun to their head.
Re: (Score:2)
Considering the successful pregnancy rate of in vitro fertilization is considerably lower (~30%, the last I knew), and considerably more expensive ($10,000 per attempt), their technique might be a boon to infertile couples.
Re: (Score:2)
Considering the successful pregnancy rate of in vitro fertilization is considerably lower (~30%, the last I knew), and considerably more expensive ($10,000 per attempt), their technique might be a boon to infertile couples.
But a great deal of that cost difference is Pigs don't sue. And if you mess up a sow, nobody cares.
Infertile couples and lesbian couples. There are a hell of a lot more of the latter.
Re: (Score:2)
Most lesbian couples will just go for standard artificial insemination, not many go to all the trouble of in vitro because there normally isn't a need for it. In vitro only becomes a consideration when regular inseminations (~60% success rate, about $1000 per attempt) fail repeatedly. For that matter, a lot of them will just have regular sex with a male friend a couple of times and be done with it.
One disturbing aspect... (Score:3)
Although it sounds cool, I can't help but being a little weirded out by the thought of the exact same pig being experimented on endlessly throughout time...
A little like the multiple Ripley clone scene from Alien Resurrection.
Re: (Score:1)
the thought of the exact same pig being experimented on endlessly throughout time...
For the love of the God-of-Parents, please may it be Pepper Pig!
Re: (Score:1)
If you think that's a little weird, there's a line of cancerous cells used in research that came from Henrietta Lacks, who died more than 50 years ago.
Re: (Score:2)
Don't worry, they will all be slaughtered by Arthur Dent.
Re: (Score:2)
Although it sounds cool, I can't help but being a little weirded out by the thought of the exact same pig being experimented on endlessly throughout time...
Would you also feel weird about people experimenting on the exact same human [wikipedia.org] for 63 years and counting, with no end in sight?
Cells no, whole being yes. (Score:2)
To me it's just the aspect that it is the whole animal that gives me an odd feeling. It's not at all a rational division/ Just the dividing line that crosses into something seeming odd to me.
Re: (Score:2)
Or the short story Fat Farm [wikipedia.org].
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, I know that it's not literally the SAME pig with the same memories... but still, it's the same pig.
Can they clone sheep? (Score:5, Funny)
I always wanted a harem.
Farming via cloning will never happen (Score:2)
Animals are good at farking. You won't beat that for efficiency.
Now, whether or not they should be eaten is another matter.
Re: (Score:2)
yea, but evolution tends to make animals that are better at making more animals... and not make them more tasty and fatter. They'll eventually genetically engineer the perfect pig... 2000lbs of pure fat and bacon... then they'll clone the heck out of that because the damned things wont survive long enough to breed.
Re: (Score:2)
eating cops I mean pigs (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
How is cloning in any way more efficient than traditional breeding? This says they can do 2 implantations a day. I bet a regular pig farm can do way more than that.
Re: (Score:2)
Cloning increases the repeatability and eliminates the variances in animal research, and thus increases the efficiency of the research being done.
If you are looking for eating animals – that is a pig of a different color.
Re: (Score:2)
Right. I understand the reason they are doing it (research), but the GP seemed to think that somehow cloning would lead to more food being available.
Re: (Score:1)
Cloning is not genetic engineering. By definition, the cloned pig is genetically identical (up to the normal mutations that happen during normal grow-up) to the original. If the original one was not genetically modified, then the clone isn't either.
The effect of eating meat from a genetically engineered pig should depend on what exactly was modified. It may be more healthy (if it was engineered to be), more unhealthy (if it was engineered instead to have an advantage in farming, and the change has an unplan
Going bananas (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Well, it's not the cloning itself that is dangerous. It is what happens when this become the preferred method of producing all of our pigs. There are many strains of banana that are no longer available today because they all became infected with the same bug and well, we couldn't produce banana's that were very nearly like them, but a little different.
Human being are very adept at creating monocultures, and this is one of the reasons that many parts of the world are now very famine prone. (Famine, not droug
Cloning sucks. (Score:2)
In other news, cloning is fun to know how to do, but totally worthless because it has no valid applications.
You have cloning for food, but, why not just.. grow the meat on scaffolds to eat right then and there? Why clone or grow an entire animal, when you can just grow the meat and body parts you want to eat directly. Also, vegetables are better for people anyway, so why not just abandon meat eating entirely?
Then there's cloning for sexual gratification. The idea of cloning a women or man for sex, who has t
Re: (Score:2)
In other news, cloning is fun to know how to do, but totally worthless because it has no valid applications.
You left out the cloning to eliminate most variables when you give an experimental medical treatment to one animal but not to another. I'm surprised you thought about cloning sex slaves before getting to that one.
Re: (Score:1)
Well, cloning even for medical purposes is purposeless. Because medications are all inherently the same, we understand we're just usually blocking receptors and shit in the cells of tissue. They aren't ineffective, mutilate people, and don't cure. They're the biggest waste when it comes to health, but also the only treatment being made because it's so cheap and easy to dispense (magic bullet that doesn't do shit in a pill!). So because I know they do experiments like this a lot, using animals and meds on th
Re: (Score:2)
Wait, you never heard of 'eliminating variables'?
Re: (Score:1)
So those pigs are going to solve out algebra problems? ;-)
[Note to the humour-impaired: No need to educate me what was meant with "eliminating variables", I know it.]
Re: (Score:2)
In other news, cloning is fun to know how to do, but totally worthless because it has no valid applications.
No valid applications?
Consistent repeatable results in medical testing? eliminates genetic variables which can and do affect results
producing foods with consistent desirable properties, not sure you have noticed but a good portion of the world is poor and or starving..
cloning is also excellent research towards the ability to clone body parts for transplants to reduce complications and rejection.
I am sure there are many many other highly valuable uses for cloning, just because you are too warped to think
So rude (Score:1)
So can Hollywood!
Haw haw haw!
So can a World of Warcraft clan!
So can a university Greek fraternity or sorority system!
Wait, wait! So can a biennial Congressional election!
etc.
Favorite quote from article (Score:2)
"If it tastes good, you should sequence it"
Fast forward 100 years and all livestock is cloned into 'taste-families': you can define the general palette of tastes you enjoy, and they produce it.
OK, maybe only 30 years...
Re: (Score:1)
The 6 flavors of Kevin's bacon?
What Charlotte wrote (Score:2)
The next morning, there in the web, neatly woven, were the words SOME PIGS!
Not mentioned in the article (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Nope, I'm not going to explain; if you have to ask you don't understand!
Cloning pigs? (Score:2)
This is going to put the Kardashian family out of business.,
Jayne Mansfield Clones (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
The only thing 'utterly stupid' is you. Nowhere does it say they are going to produce a million animals. It says, quite clearly, that they are going to sequence the genomes of a million animals (and a million plants, and a million people).
Re: (Score:1)
H1Bacon
If they fall behind on a project, you can always place them between bread.