Transgenic Chicken Fights Avian Flu: Health Miracle or Frankenscience?

An underreported issues following last year's swine flu epidemic was the belief among many global health experts that the health impact of swine flu was actually a drop in the epidemic bucket compared to the havoc that avian flu might eventually cause should it make the jump to humans.

Now the February 14th issue of the journal Science will feature a study from the Universities of Cambridge and Edinburgh reporting that they've created the world's first transgenic chicken who is incapable of transmitting avian flu. By manipulating the genes of the chicken, let's call him Larry, researchers found that even when infected with avian flu Larry didn't transmit the virus to his coop mates, say Curly and Moe. Larry still got sick, but even if Curly and Moe were normal chickens, not graced with Larry's custom-made genes, their health was preserved.

Avian flu is a major concern for human health in part because humans and chickens are much more alike than pigs and people. Since the impact of global pandemic falls disproportionately on poor and less developed nations, does this new GMO chicken represent a technological boon for the less developed world?

Researchers are quick to point out that for the moment at least, Larry is purely a research critter, and not intended for human consumption. People naturally keep chickens for consumption or egg production, so presumably safety testing for consumption is in the work plan.

Justmeans readers tend to shed a skeptical or downright scornful eye on GMO crops. What about this case, is it any different if a GMO poultry could prevent global pandemic?

Photo credit: Joming Lau, via Flickr