LONDON (Reuters) - Genetically modified meat could be on shop shelves in the next 10 to 15 years, British researchers predicted Monday.
Professor Patrick Bateson, of the Royal Society of leading scientists, said it will be feasible to breed chicken resistant to salmonella or cattle genetically altered to produce lean meat.
"It should take at least a decade," he told Reuters.
But Bateson, chairman of a Royal Society group which produced a new report on GM animals, said the meat and products would be subject to strict regulations and testing before they reached the market.
He believes the recent uproar about genetically modified crops that gripped Europe was due to misinformation and that the public will be more likely to accept GM products if people are given good scientific evidence.
"There are a lot of misgivings based on misinformation," he said in a telephone interview.
The 50-page report called for more funding for research on the use of GM animals, and said research on genetic modification will become increasingly important in the search for the causes and cures of diseases.
Bateson also sought to quell fears that the technology will be used to create freak creatures and said it could improve the welfare of animals.
"We share the concerns of many members of the public about welfare issues and we believe that the research should minimize the suffering to animals while maximizing the gain to medicine, agriculture and our fundamental understanding of biology."
Animals modified by adding or removing genes have been used in medical research for 20 years and have helped research into cancer and other diseases.
"We are already seeing the benefits of this research through the production of such substances as human blood-clotting factors and antibodies in the milk of GM animals," Bateson said.
The sequencing of the human genome will speed up the search for new disease genes, and mice and other animals, which share many of the 30,000-40,000 genes in humans, will play an important role.
"Animals that can be genetically modified to develop human diseases such as cancer, muscular dystrophy and cystic fibrosis, are increasingly important in assessing new therapies which one day may relieve the suffering of millions of patients," said Bateson.
©Reuters May 21 2001 8:27AM