Biotechnology is having a huge impact in many areas of our lives, from medicine to industry. Agriculture also is being affected. Farmers are having to decide how to keep up with the changes. That is the issue for Elsa and John, who are thinking about using a genetically engineered drug on their dairy cows. The drug they are considering is an artificially produced hormone .
Hormones are proteins produced by organs of the body that trigger activity in other locations.
Cows produce a natural hormone called bovine growth hormone, or BGH, that causes them to make milk. They have figured out how to clone the gene in order to produce BGH artificially. Some cells are removed from a cow, and the gene for BGH is cut out of their genome. The gene is then injected into bacteria. Bacteria reproduce very quickly.