加拿大安大略省圭尔夫大学的博士Peter Blecher以及他的父亲一起在研制如何选择奶牛的性别，这项研究似乎可以允许农民们使用人工受精的方式来选择他们需要的奶牛或者是猪的性别。这将会对整个农业造成极大的冲击。
但是Peter Blecher博士称，没有一个发疯的科学家会使用基因技术来控制一种物种，我们只是消除精子中我们不需要的性别，我们并没有对基因物质进行变动，最终用来受精的精子根本没有被接触。这个已经申请了专利的技术就是使用一种可以聚集所有性别特定蛋白的抗体除去不需要的性别。这样可以提高奶农们对奶牛性别的选择性。
Sex in the barnyard may never be the same.
A new process that appears to allow farmers to choose the sex of their cows and pigs in artificial insemination has the potential to revolutionize commercial agriculture.
But these aren't mad scientists using genetic technology to manipulate a species, stresses Dr. Peter Blecher, whose father Stan developed the process at the University of Guelph.
"We're just removing the sperm of the sex we don't want," said Blecher, founder of Sequent Biotechnologies, whose sperm-sexing technology inspired a recent friendly takeover by Microbix Biosystems Inc. (TSX:BMX).http://www.microbix.com/
"There's no manipulation of genetic material at all. The sperm that's used in the ultimate fertilization is untouched in any way."
The patented technology uses an antibody that can clump together all the sex-specific proteins in a semen sample and remove whatever sex is not wanted. That can mean major opportunities for producers who have only a 50 per cent chance of getting the sex of animal they want through artificial insemination.
The desire to pre-determine sex has been an issue for centuries.
"Since King Henry VIII started chopping the heads off his wives it's been something that's been a riddle to scientists," said Blecher. The British monarch executed two of his six wives, blaming them for not being able to produce male heirs.
But while baby determination is an ethical minefield among humans, it represents billions in increased efficiency to livestock producers around the world. For example, dairy farmers obviously prefer offspring to be milk-producing females.
Beef producers prefer male calves, which convert feed into lean muscle mass far faster than females. That can have huge implications to cattle ranchers who operated on razor-thin margins even before the mad cow crisis ravaged the industry. Female pigs are easier to control.
"Look at any major global business that's operating on a 50 per cent inefficiency," said Blecher. "That would be considered disastrous by any standards."
Dairy operator Michael Hall says the technology, if proven, would be a natural evolution of the artificial insemination industry.
"If I could pick the top 25 per cent of cows in my barn and make sure they have heifers every year, that would be a significant production advantage," said Hall, a director with the Dairy Farmers of Canada, who runs an operation south of Ottawa.
Semen sexing has been available in the United States and Europe for several years, but there has been limited uptake across the industry because it is expensive and invasive, says reproduction physiologist Michael Dyck.
"Artificial insemination has revolutionized the dairy industry," said Dyck, who teaches animal science at the University of Alberta and focused research on embryonic transfers in swine.
"This could be a very nice add-on to that."
Further testing and field trials of the technology will be done over the next three years by Microbix, which specializes in the development of biotherapeutic drugs, vaccines, and infectious disease diagnostics. The company expects a market launch in 2008.
Dyck doubts there will be many ethical concerns raised.
"This technology has been developed in parallel with things like cloning or trans-genesis," he said. "So when you put this alongside that kind of manipulation, the animal rights activists are probably going to lean more toward (protesting) genetic manipulation."
And while producers across Canada have embraced artificial insemination, many cattle are still reproducing the old fashioned way as Nature intended.
"There's still a large percentage of herds that . . . still use a barnyard bull," said Hall.
