 Feather coverage is greatly reduced on the birds |
The birds, created at the Hebrew University in Israel, will not need to be plucked, saving money in processing plants.
While the researcher behind the breed concedes that they would not be suitable for cooler countries, he says that in hot climates, the birds would fare better.
Professor Avigdor Cahaner, who led the project, told the BBC: "This is not a genetically modified chicken - it comes from a natural breed whose characteristics have been known for 50 years.However, opponents of the move say that the changes do not benefit the animals, and are in fact likely to make their lives worse.
"I am just transferring that to fast growing broiler chickens. It's a normal chicken except for the fact it has no feathers."
He said that broiler chickens were fed intensively to achieve fast growth, which meant they also tended to produce a lot of body heat; and this meant that particularly in hotter countries, they "suffer tremendously".
The featherless birds would tend to be leaner, and perhaps grow faster, he said, which would improve the quality of the meat and save producers money.
Pollution claim
Removing the plucking process would also reduce pollution, he said. The process, he claimed, produced large quantities of water contaminated with feathers and fat.
However, animal welfare groups warned that feathers were important to help protect the birds from parasites - and that the featherless chickens were likely to suffer sunburn.
In addition, male chickens might not be able to mate, they argued.
Replies
Feather Winger: Yes, very creepy, and very sick.
frankenstein chicks
ironic considering this happening in the most vegetarian/vegan nation on this planet.
, this monster clone might end up on plate soon, gross......................
A recent topic of debate in one of my classes was a possible connection between the diminishing quality of food with the sudden rise in auto-immune diseases. Whether you are vegan/vegetarian or not, we didn't have the current explosion in unusual bowel-based diseases (i.e. Crohn's, Irritable Bowel Syndrome) and vast increases in rare contemporary diseases (cancer, diabetes) before WWI and WWII. These diseases exploded in numbers with the MANY CHANGES that took place with the food supplies after that time frame, and the common denominator appears to be the need to save costs by lowering quality (i.e. THE HARVARD M.B.A. BUSINESS MODEL APPLIED TO FOOD PRODUCTION).
Buy organic, buy local, and stay away from low quality food. You don't want to be an internal medicine patient on my unit, because it's expensive, it's painful, and it really sucks.
propable answer is that todays food is fake junk, commercial factory line made pumped with chemicals, steroids, hormones, grown on pesticides, fed and grown by GMO and only god knows what else. No wonder why so many meat eaters are so sick. You ask any raw organic foods vegan when he/she was sick last time ~!~
.....real food Malcolm, the one that does not poison your body and mind...............organic of course
Didn't I say buy organic?
By the way, I have treated one vegan patient for nerve issues and another for cardiac issues. And it was related to lack of vitamin B12 and brain issues, and the other for lack of essential fatty acids and cardiac arythmia due to lack of essential fatty acids. And both patients were defensively militant and judgmental about their diet, as is about 2/3 of other vegans that I talk to.
I like to eat raw fruits and vegetables, and occasional wild salmon or catfish with my long grain rice and beans. I avoid red meat and chicken, because yes, you are correct about the chemicals used to make them big. I am aware that vegans and vegetarians statistically live longer than "meat eaters." HOWEVER, YOU CANNOT GET VITAMIN B12 OR MAINTAIN PROPER LEVELS OF ESSENTIAL FATTY ACIDS FROM A PURE VEGAN DIET (unless you include other factors, such as supplements, certain food oils (which may have "meat" derivatives), or certain seaweeds (which may contain mercury or Fukushima waste products). And lack of these two elements WILL lead to future problems down the road, as my two patients found out (albeit, they were both elderly and in otherwise good health due to lack of extensive medical histories).
Human beings have canine teeth and enzymes that break down animal protein. I apologize, but I don't believe that there is such a thing as a karma-free diet that guarantees a right of passage in the next life that is away from those whose dietary intake includes excessive levels of cholesterol and fat. Please get off of the latent judgmental trip. The Pleiadians do not have your back.
I am aware of how much vegans get critisized for their dietary opinions and attitude, nothing new to me................did you say you cannot get b12 from vegan diet ? how about this ~
..........seaweed, sweet potatoe, spinach, white, brown, portabela and crimini mushrooms, grape leaves, fennel, cauliflower , spirulina, chlorela and blue~green algae. To be eaten if a person wants b12 on vegan diet
I mentioned seaweed already, above your reply. You probably didn't read my reply. Anyway, how about the need for essential fatty acids? How can you approach that one? I have treated an 80 year old vegan who was still an elementary school teacher (and she came in for heart issues), and she refused to consider omega 3 supplements due to fish as a source.