摘要：据英国《每日邮报》报道，目前，新西兰基因工程师有意培育变性山羊，观察变性山羊的乳汁是否与人类相似。
变性山羊是将雌性山羊基因培育在雄性体内，新西兰研究机构AgResearch负责此项研究，该公司希望在变性山羊的乳汁中发现与人类乳汁相同的蛋白质成份，便于未来在商店进行出售。
这些变性山羊被命名为“异邦者”，是兼具雌雄特征的15只山羊。目前，批判人士已呼吁这项基因改良培育项目关闭，并意指科学家在“扮演上帝”。同时，他们还置疑如果这些这些变性山羊逃离将潜在危险性，它们或许将破坏正常的野生山羊基因。
AgResearch公司称，现培育的75%变性山羊都严格遵循项目计划，所有的“雄性”都已绝育，无法实现生育。在总共的15只变性山羊中，迄今已有1只6个月大小的山羊产出乳汁。
这项研究的最新进展在网络博客和评论中得到了密切回应，在卡罗-希尔的博客中写道：“我战栗地思索着：这是人类对无辜动物的残忍行径，只是为了摆脱人类的困境，却会杀死这些无辜的动物，甚至改变它们原有的基因和性别。我真是不明白！要是我，绝对不会这样做！”
另一位女性网友评论称，这些“山羊”都是活生生的动物，它们与人类一样呼吸着空气，是有知觉的动物，我并不认为我们有权利任意地篡改它们的基因！
新西兰土壤和卫生部官员斯特凡-勃朗宁(Steffan Browning)近期参观AgResearch公司时指出，我希望立即关闭这项研究项目，因为它涉及对正常山羊群体的健康污染。他还指出，这项实验还涉及一些药理学研究。
AgResearch公司生物科学总经理吉米-苏蒂(Jimmy Suttie)博士称，变性山羊与基因工程没有关系。这是一项不经意获得的研究结果，正常情况下这种变性山羊的培育概率为10-15%。我们非常谨慎地处理动物基因改良处理。我们进行的所有实验都受到兽医和动物伦理委员会的严格监控，但他们对这些研究并未提出任何问题。
生物探索推荐英文原文：
Scientists genetically engineer female 'Frankenstein' goats in male bodies to create 'human' breast milk
Genetic engineers are deliberately breeding transgender goats to see if their milk is similar to that produced by humans.
The goats being created are effectively a female trapped in a male’s body, complete with the full male anatomy.
The company behind them wants to see if their milk contains the same proteins as human breast milk - with a view to one day possibly selling it in stores.
The goats have been christened ‘goys’, a mixture of ‘girl’ and ‘boy’ and 15 have been bred at the research facility in New Zealand.
Critics have however already called for the breeding programme to be closed down amid concerns the scientists are ‘playing God’.
They have also asked about the dangers posed if the goats escaped and their DNA was introduced to the wider gene pool.
AgResearch has said that 75 per cent of the goats bred at its facility in Hamilton are transgender as a result of the programme.
All the ‘males’ have been sterilised to stop them breeding.
Pictured: Transgender-Nanny goats are being born inside the bodies of billy goats as a result of a bizarre genetic engineering project in New Zealand
In total there are 15 ‘goys’ and one of them has so far produced milk at the age of six months.
The development sparked an appalled reaction on blogs and comment posts.
On one blog Carol Hill wrote: ‘I shudder to think what mankind is doing to innocent animals to help out mankind and kill off these innocent animals.
‘I just don't get it at all, I simply don't’.
Another woman wrote: ‘These ‘goys’ are living, breathing, feeling creatures, and I don’t think that we have the right to manipulate their very beings that way.’
Steffan Browning, an official from New Zealand's Soil and Health Department who recently toured the facility, added that he wanted it closed down immediately because of his concerns of the risk of contamination with normal goats.
He also had issues over the experiments being carried out there and some of the pharmacological studies.
Dr Jimmy Suttie, AgResearch's general manager of applied biosciences, said that the transgender goats had nothing to do with genetic engineering.
‘It was inadvertent. This is something which normally happens about 10 to 15 per cent of the time in this breed of goat.
‘It just happens to be the cell line that was used.’
He added: ‘We take animal ethics very, very seriously at AgResearch.
‘All these experiments are supervised by vets and the animal ethics committee, and they have given us no concerns at all.’
