Reply #23: here's another monstrosity of the genetic engineers . . . [View All]

Scientists in the agriculture department of the Hebrew University in
Rehovot have genetically engineered a chicken that has no feathers.

http://www.greenapple.com/~jorp/amzanim/ffa08.htm



A new, genetically modified breed of chicken has been developed by Israeli genetics expert Avigdor Cahaner, of the Rehovot campus of the Hebrew University. He maintains that these chickens will grow faster in hot weather because they will not be prone to over-heating like normal chickens, whose growth rate drops when they get too warm.

Other people, however, have a very different opinion of this latest manipulation of nature. Dr. Ian Duncan, Chairperson of Animal Welfare in the Department of Animal and Poultry Sciences at the University of Guelph, Ontario, and the foremost domestic fowl expert in North America, has stated that feathers are meant to cool as much as to heat, and that they are also designed to protect the skin surface. The skin is a route for infection, and their feathers protect chickens from being scratched. Furthermore, the lack of feathers will interfere with the pecking order. According to Dr. Duncan, it is likely that chickens use differences in feathers to recognize each other and for social interaction.

Rabbi David Rosen (a CHAI Advisory Board member), said that he considers this experiment barbaric and a perversion of nature.


http://www.chai-online.org/chickens.htm

finally, how was the "genetic engineering" done?

by "old-fashioned" breeding methods:

Professor Avigdor Cahaner, who led the project, told the BBC: "This is not a genetically modified chicken - it comes from a natural breed whose characteristics have been known for 50 years.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2000003.stm