Healthier bacon through biotech?

Published 9:00 pm Sunday, March 26, 2006

Healthy bacon? I can hear Homer Simpson drooling now. But it may be possible, as a geneticist at Harvard Medical School and other scientists have used a gene from a type of worm to produce pigs rich in omega-3 fatty acids.

That’s a kind of healthy fat found in fish, but not meat … at least until now. The omega-3 fatty acids are believed to offer some protection against heart attacks. The lead researcher also thinks “healtful” versions of other meats could be on their way, too.

Key quote: ”Pig was the first,” said Jing Kang of Harvard Medical School. ”But transgenic chickens, cows, and fish are on the way, too.”

Is this a good idea? I’ll leave that to others to hash out. I think I’d rather just eat fish for my omega-3 fats, but I’ve never been crazy about pork, either.

Here’s the story on The Boston Globe Web site, http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/03/27/worm_gene_eyed_for_heart_healthy_bacon/, and from the Chicago Tribune, http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0603270152mar27,1,5329061.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed. Scientific American has a more detailed report, http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa003&articleID=00095050-1EB7-1423-9EB783414B7F0000, with a picture of the healthy pink porkers.