Udderly Bonkers: Chinese Cows Produce Human Milk

Scientists at the China Agricultural University in Beijing have genetically engineered cows that produce milk with similar characteristics to human milk. Awesome, you say. But how? And why? And … what?

Now for the science bit. Human breast milk contains a protein called lysozyme, which has all sorts of health-promoting, gut-friendly properties for nursing infants. There’s 3,000 times more lysozyme in human milk than cow’s milk. But through a bit of scientific jiggery pokery involving cow embryos and human genes, Professor Ning Li and his team have bred cows with milk containing much higher levels of the health-promoting protein.

With all the milk-related scandals recently, any further tampering with the white stuff is unlikely to be met with much public approval, but according to this article on Discovery News, the milk has the “potential to prevent and treat cases of diarrhea that kill millions of infants each year.”

There are those who worry about the unknown risks associated with the genetically modified milk. In this article from Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper, a spokesman from Baby Milk Action cited “incredible risks that we don’t know about.” Not very helpful, but that's the Daily Mail for you.