Woman's DNA in cloned Waikato sheep

By ANNE BESTON

DNA from a Danish woman has been inserted into a flock of genetically engineered Waikato sheep, sparking a row in Britain and raising ethical questions.

PPL Therapeutics said the DNA from the unnamed woman probably came from a blood sample she gave in the 1980s when aged 22, but she had never been told what her DNA had been used for.

The Scottish-based company, which cloned Dolly the sheep, hopes to make money from its experiments into extracting a protein from the sheep's milk to fight diseases such as cystic fibrosis.

The revelation that the company used the woman's DNA has led to calls for much tighter controls on the use of DNA in Britain.

Dr Sue Mayer, director of GeneWatch, said: "Most donors do not think their DNA will be patented, inserted into animals or bacteria and used to boost the profits of some company."

But PPL denies it has acted improperly. Research director Alan Colman said: "I would be proud if it was my DNA being used.

"The samples were taken in the eighties when there were few guidelines. There is absolutely no question of this lady being deceived.

"We got the DNA through a research council and the anonymous sample came from a gene bank used by many research institutes."

The 250 sheep are on a farm near the small South Waikato town of Mangakino. Farm manager Mike Aitkenhead said they would be milked shortly and the milk sent to Britain for processing.

Green Party co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons said the case raised huge moral and ethical questions on the use of DNA in genetic engineering.

"I have heard that some DNA is taken from aborted foetuses to make sure it cannot be traced to a living person."

But Ms Fitzsimons said using DNA in transgenic experiments was not the same as transplanting an organ, for instance.

AgResearch scientist Dr Phil L'Huillier said DNA used in transgenic experiments was simply a synthetic copy of human DNA. By the time it was reduced to its basic code, it could be identical to thousands of DNA patterns in the general population.

"First, we make a copy of the DNA and copy it millions of times again, grow it in bacteria and purify it again - that's the DNA that goes in the sheep."

Sometimes scientists might use their own DNA for experiments, or it could be bought from companies in countries such as the United States.

Karen Cronin, of the Environmental Risk Management Authority, said the issue was raised by Maori at the hearing into the PPL experiments when they accused the company of using Maori DNA.

New Zealand was chosen to raise the sheep because it was easy to obtain grazing land and avoid diseases such as scrapie.

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