Move over golden rice, genetically modified cats are in the works. Syracuse, N.Y., residents Jackie and David Avner, among the 10 percent of the population who have cat allergies, are working to create a feline that won't make their eyes water. Their privately held company, Transgenic Pets LLC (www.transgenicpets.com) is using knockout technology to create kitties that are missing the sole human allergen. David Avner, an emergency medicine physician, got the idea about seven years ago, according to Jackie. "He was testing ways to lower exposure to pet allergens in the home--specialized vacuum cleaners, air filters, and various ways to bathe cats," she says. "His conclusion was that they weren't effective. One evening, he thought, why not just remove the allergen at its source?" The knocked out cat gene encodes a protein that does not seem vital to feline health. Dogs, in contrast, produce several allergens. In 1995, David Avner applied for a patent to create an allergen- free knockout transgenic cat. The genetic modification is proceeding under the experienced hands of Xiangzhong (Jerry) Yang, head of the University of Connecticut, Storrs, Transgenic Animal Facility. Yang's team has cloned calves and created transgenic pigs, rabbits, and rodents, and hopes to add cats to the list by 2003. The initial animals can be interbred. Why custom-made kitties when shelters are overstocked? "We're looking to provide pets for people unable to have them," Jackie Avner says. The first altered cats, according to the Web site, will go "at a premium;" then the cost should dip to $750 to $1000.
USDA Launches Food Safety Web Site
The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently launched a new Internet Web site devoted to food safety (www.nal.usda.gov/fsrio/). In 1997, Congress mandated the department's Food Safety Research Information Office (FSRIO)--housed in the Library of Agriculture in Beltsville, Md.--to "provide to the research community and the general public information on publicly funded, and to the extent possible, privately funded, food safety research initiatives." The new Web site aims to disseminate that information. FSRIO, says coordinator Yvette Alonso, will "collect all information and thereby avoid duplication of efforts" by other agencies that include food safety in their portfolios. So far, the site supplies research data from USDA and the Food and Drug Administration. FSRIO hopes to get other federal sources, including the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, Environmental Protection Agency and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention online soon. Says Alonso, "Even NASA has some food safety projects we want." She'll also acquire information from state, university, private sector, and foreign sources, but she admits that with all the interest and a staff of just three people, "we'll have to prioritize our efforts." FSRIO provides links to other food-safety Web sites plus a search engine that turns up summaries of relevant research initiatives.
