OT anything from you peta idiots?


of course with the bat*** crazy peta crowd, the mice and monkeys come
first

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/creation-of-gm-monkey-heralds-health-revolution-1691807.html

Creation of 'GM' monkey heralds health revolution

Gene breakthrough offers hope of treatments for 'incurable'
Parkinson's disease and MS

By Steve Connor, Science Editor

Thursday, 28 May 2009

Scientists yesterday announced a breakthrough that could transform
research into a range of incurable diseases but spark a dramatic
increase in the number of monkeys used in experiments. Researchers
have developed a technique to create genetically modified monkeys that
suffer from human illnesses.


Experimenting on these monkeys, they believe, will advance our
understanding and treatment of incurable conditions such as
Parkinson's disease and multiple sclerosis. However, the scientific
breakthrough has caused consternation among groups opposed to animal
experiments because the development will almost certainly lead to a
sudden increase in the number of primates used in medical research at
a time when there are calls for fewer monkeys to be used in
experiments.

The development also raises the prospect that we will be able to apply
the technique to humans ? another primate. This could help families
affected by inherited disorders such Huntington's disease and cystic
fibrosis by permenantly eradicating their defective genes from future
generations.

The breakthrough was achieved by a team of scientists in Japan led by
Erika Sasaki of the Central Institute of Experimental Animals in
Kawasaki and Professor Hideyuki Okano of Keio University School of
Medicine. Their study, published in the journal Nature, used marmoset
monkeys, the smallest member of the primate group.

The "transgenic" monkeys were created by inserting a gene from a
jellyfish into their embryos to make them glow under ultraviolet light
? a standard test to see if the technique worked. When the monkeys
became adults they passed on this transgenic trait to a subsequent
generation of offspring. This "proof of principle" suggests that other
genes could also be manipulated to create animals that mimic human
disorders. This is already possible in mice.

"The expression of an introduced gene was discovered not only in the
first generation of common marmosets after introduction, but also in a
second. This is the first case ever established in the world than an
introduced gene was successfully inherited to the next generation in
primates," Professor Okano said.

"Until now, the use of mice and rats has played an important role in
life science research of transgenic animals but to conduct research on
human illnesses, experiments with primates, animals markedly closer to
humans functionally and anatomically than rodents, have become
necessary," he said.

The scientists managed to inject the jellyfish gene into 80 marmoset
IVF embryos which were transferred into 50 surrogate mothers. Seven
animals became pregnant and four of them gave birth to five live
babies.

All five offspring were transgenic animals carrying the jellyfish
gene, which caused the production of a green fluorescent protein in
the skin of the monkeys which made their hands glow under ultraviolet
light.

Most importantly, the scientists demonstrated that the jellyfish gene
had become incorporated into the reproductive cells of two of the five
marmosets ? the sperm of a male and the eggs of a female ? both of
which subsequently produced a second generation of marmosets carrying
the transgenic gene.

It is this breakthrough that could now lead to the establishment of
breeding colonies of transgenic monkeys that are each specifically
engineered with genes that simulate the symptoms of human disorders to
allow them to be used as experimental models, just as transgenic mice
have been used in their millions over the past 20 years.

"However, in many cases, research results obtained in mice cannot be
directly applied to humans because of the many physiological,
anatomical and histological difference between mice and humans, which
are evolutionarily distinct," Professor Okano said.

"For this reason, research using primates as experimental animals that
more closely resemble humans in function and anatomy is required," he
said.

The sentiment was echoed by Kieran Breen, director of research and
development at the Parkinson's Disease Society. "This is potentially
very exciting for the future of research into the cause of
Parkinson's. Because non-human primates are much closer to humans than
mice genetically, the successful creation of transgenic marmosets
means that we will have a new animal model to work with," Dr Breen
said.

However, animal welfare organisations yesterday condemned the research
on the grounds that it will lead to an increase in the use of primates
at a time when many European countries are trying to reduce the
numbers used in scientific experiments.

"It is of high scientific and ethical concern that the creation of
transgenic marmosets should be hailed as a success. These experiments
will only increase the number of non-human primates subjected to
experiments around the globe," said Carol Newman of the Dr Hadwen
Trust for Humane Research.

The creation of the first transgenic mouse in the 1980s led to an
dramatic increase in the use of laboratory mice during the 1990s. In
1990, there were less than 50,000 experiments involving transgenic
mice in Britain ? a mere 1.5 per cent of the total ? but by 2007 the
number of transgenic mice used in experiments grew to more than 1.1
million, according to Home Office statistics.


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