A company in USA (where else) are developing a gentically modified cat for people who are allergic to cats.

Apparently the allergen is located in a protein in the saliva and when the cat grooms the allergen is transferred to the cats fur.

The company say that less animals are used to develop these cats than would be used by the pharmaceutical industry in producing medicines for allergy sufferers.

Is this a good idea? Should we be messing around with animals in this way? Perhaps folk who are allergic should just choose another type of pet.

Hmmm......

There was an equally gross story in the press about some guy getting a totally bald cat for the same reason.

The cat's not going to find it easy to keep warm, and would also probably be more at risk from skin cancers. Even cats with thinning hair on their ears have a higher incidence than usual.

I love cats, and can totally sympathise with the guy who's allergic to them wanting one. But I do believe that were he to really love them he wouldn't condone this sort of 'creative' breeding.

As for the genetic modification of the cat, I assume that they're simply going to try and reduce the amount of allergen protein or change it's structure?

On the surface it's more acceptable but I wonder....why does that cat produce the protein in teh first place? Will we mess something else up by removing it?

Joe

nooooooooooo that is soo wrong!

I can understand the desire for sufferers to want a cat, but what if the changes to the allergen cause a change to the cat...no I don't like it

Moon

I'm badly allergic to cats and refuse to vist any of my mates who have cats because I end up not being able to breathe and my skin itches.

I don't think it's fair to genetically engineer cats, as they are easy enough to avoid, just get a dog instead!

One problem I do have is that I am allergic to them even if they are not in the room so when I moved into my rented flat I could not breathe very well and nearly had to move back outas the person before me had cats! It was over a month of my boyf hoovering and me trying to avoid the flat as much as possible before I could breathe again and this has now made me more allergic/sensitive to the cat hair!

I'm dreading buying a house as I know I shall end up finding my dream house only to find out the owner has cats! I could not put up with it again!

This is one of the funniest things I've read all week hehe. What next? Furry snakes with no venom so we can wear them as scarves?

I heard a woman from the RSPCA talking about this and she said that goldfish have been genetically modified so that they glow in the dark :loopy:

GLOW IN THE DARK GOLFISH?????

I want some!!!!

I sympathise Evei.. I'm super allergic to cats now.. but wasn't before which is weird.. used to have a cat at my parents house and was totally fine living with it.. left for uni and when I came back was suddenly super allergic to it.. can't breathe if I'm near a cat or in a house that has ever had cats in it.. it sucks. Still wouldn't want to modify a kitty cat for my benefit.. even though I would REALLY love to have a cat (don't like dogs, and other pets just aren't as cool as cats)..