Genetic modification: Is the law keeping up?
You might be forgiven for doubting a story suggesting that a goat is producing milk that is spun into spider silk thread similar to the silk produced by a spider. However, “it’s true”. A television episode entitle “Playing God” investigates the new science of synthetic biology, and shows genetically modified goats at a farm at Utah State University, US, which produce large quantities of a spider silk that is among the strongest substances known to man.
The transplanted gene means the goat produce milk containing an extra protein, which is extracted and spun into spider silk thread.
Genetic modification is one of the areas that comes under the heading of “animal law”, and raises the question “Is the law keeping up with scientific technology”?