Genetic modifications may protect against BSE

CATTLE can be genetically altered to lack the protein that causes mad-cow disease without adverse health effects, a study suggests.

Scientists at Hematech Inc, a unit of Japan’s Kirin Brewery Co, and the US Department of Agriculture found that cows bred without the so-called prion protein were healthy at age 20 months and their tissue showed signs of resistance to mad-cow disease. The brain-wasting illness is fatal to cows and has been linked to almost 200 human deaths in the past decade.

The findings, published on the website of the journal Nature Biotechnology, suggested that modifications could protect cattle from mad-cow disease, potentially eradicating the threat to livestock and the people who ate them or used products made from them.