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August 26, 2004

hoax or horror

As a cat lover (and biotech patent attorney), I am not sure what to make of Allerca -- a company genetically engineering an allergen free cat. 

We are a biotechnology company that is working to produce the world's first allergen-free cats. These cats will allow some of the millions of Americans allergic to cats enjoy the love and companionship of a household pet without suffering from allergy symptoms.

The first ALLERCA allergen-free kittens will be sold for $3,000.We expect the price for allergen-free cats to come down to $1,750 - $2,000 each. We are happy to contact interested buyers when these cats become available for sale in early 2006.

Is this a hoax?  Further probing turns up that Allerca is a division of Geneticas Life Sciences:

Geneticas Life Sciences is a group of diverse, world leading companies directly involved in the development and production of cloned and transgenic animals. Please click on Division from the menu to read more about our products and services.

A quick primer on "transgenic animals": the term transgenic refers to an animal or other organism whose genome (genetic material or profile) has been altered by the transfer of a gene or genes from another species or breed.  For example, I wrote a patent application entitled "Fucosyltransferases, polynucleotides encoding fucosyltransferases, and transgenic mammal incorporating same" (U.S. Patent No. 6,461,835, which was licensed by and thereafter prosecuted by Cheryl Becker of Abbott Labs.) wherein a transgenic non-human eukaryotic mammal whose germ cells and somatic cells incorporate nucleic acid sequence(s) encoding one or more of the novel .alpha.-1,2 and .alpha.-1,3 fucosyltransferases from C. elegans was described.  The production of recombinant proteins from fucosyltransferases or products requiring action by fucosyltransferases were described as being produced in a non-human mammal's milk (i.e. a cow's milk).  Thus, transgenic mammals can be engineered to have certain properties or produce certain products by the introduction of a gene from another species or breed.  Doing so can turn the transgenic mammal into a biological factory. 

Back to the cats -- another one of Geneticas Life Sciences is Genetiate.  Genetiate's primary project is the "NightSave Deer":

With over 500,000 deer/auto collisions every year, the cost in lives and money is staggering. While insurers pay over a billion dollars in claims annually, over 200 people are killed. Countless other drivers and passengers suffer injuries and other serious medical complications. By implanting the gene of a special jellyfish into deer, the transgenic NIGHTSAVE deer produced by GENETIATE (patent pending) have fluorescing hair and skin when illuminated by car headlights. The implanted gene has no other effect on the deer, who appear normal in daylight. The NIGHTSAVE project aims to reduce the number of night time deer/auto collisions,  saving the lives of both deer and people.

And, best of all:

TO VIEW A SIMULATED COMPARISON BETWEEN NORMAL AND NIGHTSAVE DEER, CLICK HERE

The world is going to become a much stranger place.

Posted by Douglas Sorocco at 07:50 PM.
Permalink: hoax or horror
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