Company develops BSE resistant cow
IOWA - Mad Cow, or BSE, is blamed on a deformed particle called a prion so Roble says they bred a cow with no prions in its brain at all.
11 January 2007
1 minute read
It sounds like the ultimate cure for Mad Cow Disease -- a cow that cannot get the disease even if it's exposed. A Midwestern bio-tech company called Hematech breeds animals for research and for producing medicines has developed such and animal.
President and Chief Scientific Officer Jim Roble helped start up the company in 1999. Roble says their main business is producing cows that can be used to make drugs for use on humans. World concern over Mad Cow Disease was at a peak in 1999 when the company started, so the scientists reasoned that their products would overcome a lot of consumer resistance if they could be produced using a cow free from any risk of the brain-wasting disease.
In addition to food and leather, he says we get a lot of products from cows. He lists "cow serum" which is collected from blood and used in cell cultures, and enzymes. There's also gelatin, made from cow products, and the collagen used for cosmetic procedures. Mad Cow, or BSE, is blamed on a deformed particle called a prion so Roble says they bred a cow with no prions in its brain at all. Normally, he says,. there are good prions and bad prions.
Source: Radio Iowa
