Judy, You wrote, "Do folks of any ethical, moral or religious persuasion
consider this human gene insertion to be cannibalism?  I would think that orthodox
Jusaism should.  How about Catholicism?"

I believe that there are concerns about the ethics of this science from a
variety of religious views.  Vegans and vegetarians would also have ethical,
moral concerns about mixing human genes with foods.

There are also issues of long-term health effects of eating these foods.
Safety concerns in regard to the process of using vectors such as e.coli (are
they truly disabled?).   I recently read a patent that stated that in the past
vectors used in foods were not stable but this new patent had solved that
problem.  Hm, what does that mean for the consumer?

Supposedly  Ventria's endeavor is a few years away from having their products
put into infant formula.  We have already accepted cloned milk and its
products in the USA, another form of transgenics.  Milk lactoferrin is considered
GRAS.  What is milk lactoferrin?  Cow's produce little or no lactoferrin.
(according to Bo Lonnerdal and various researchers) I suspect that what the dairy
industry call's bovine lactoferrin is a GMO product (quite simply the cow is
producing lactoferrin because as an embryo it was given the human lactoferrin
gene).  Milk lactoferrin has been put into infant formula in Japan for a number
of years.

The ease in which various industries obtain human milk to create patents and
products should be of concern to breastfeeding advocates.  Certainly, this new
technology is creating enormous debate among ethicists and various religious
groups.  This science and the impact on breastfeeding should not be ignored.
Valerie W. McClain, IBCLC

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