Do We Want GM Cows Making Human Milk?

According to Chinese news sources, scientists have created a genetically modified cow whose milk has “the characteristics of human milk.”

The idea is that human milk is nutritionally superior to cow’s milk and will constitute a better choice for consumers a decade from now, when the product is ready for mass production.

I have to question this one, big-time.

I’ll concede that human milk has its nutritional benefits.  For babies.  Human milk contains everything babies need to survive.  You don’t need to–and probably shouldn’t–feed a baby anything other than human milk, for years (the actual number of years is in dispute, but few sources recommend anything less than 12 months).

Remember When rBST Was the Most Unnatural Thing They Did to Milk?

In fact, human milk’s nutritional value for babies is confirmed by the fact that cow’s milk doesn’t work for babies, and that even baby formula, which we’ve been working on for decades, can’t measure up.  Babies fed formula are typically more prone to obesity, SIDs, diabetes, cancer, asthma and even low IQ than babies fed breast milk.

But that doesn’t mean breast milk is optimal for the rest of us (i.e., children, adolescents, teens and adults).  We haven’t, historically, consumed human milk after a certain very young age.  Adults have different nutritional requirements than babies.  And since we’ve thrived as a species for millions of years it’s not entirely clear to me why we suddenly need to start drinking human milk–or its facsimile–as adults.

Secondly, this new cow’s milk simply is not human milk.  It “has the characteristics of human milk.”  Well, so does baby formula.  But since baby formula isn’t cutting it, do you expect that the new genetically engineered cow’s milk will?  Of course, the idea behind this new cow’s milk isn’t to feed it to babies; but if we can’t create something better than mother’s milk in the lab, why do we expect we can create something in the lab that’s better for us than cow’s milk?

We’ve evolved for millenia to thrive on cow’s milk, not on cow’s milk with human milk characteristics.  (Yes, many populations have not traditionally consumed cow’s milk, and so are lactose intolerant, but I’m guessing the lactose intolerant among us are not going to be drinking this new GM cow’s milk either.)  So, while these scientists may have gotten this perfectly right, and it may be the perfect food for our bodies, I think the chances of this are slim.  And at least for now, I’d rather drink something that’s withstood the test of centuries, than yet another new food that may or may not have other long-term consequences on our bodies.

Do you want to drink this new milk with human milk characteristics?