About "bald chickens" and faith in God

Geneticist: belief in God does not mean that everyone should look the same

Avigdor Kahaner is one of the outstanding modern geneticists, the man who bred a breed of chicken without feathers. For this, some cursed him, while others, on the contrary, called him a great scientist. He works at the Tel Aviv Agricultural Institute and claims that chickens living in warm countries without feathers feel much better than their ordinary relatives. In an exclusive interview with Baltkom radio station, Kahaner spoke about the dangers of genetics and why he does not believe in God.

The interview was conducted by Vadim Radionov and Diana Karpova.

Dangerous genetics

– Does genetics have dangerous sides?

– Just like any other sciences related to human well-being, for example, the development of medicines. "Is it dangerous?" you may ask. Of course! In case of improper use of medicines, they can poison a person. We can say, yes, genetics can have dangerous sides. When you study, conduct some kind of analysis or study of world progress in order to understand what is happening around you – whatever you find, if it is not directed in the right direction, it can become dangerous. That's why you need to keep everything under control, everything should be within reason. In my opinion, there is a potential risk.

– You have created a kind of chicken without feathers. What was the peculiarity of this work and what was the motive?

– First of all, I want to emphasize that this is a completely natural, characteristic feature. There are dogs and cats without hair, they are rare, but they are there. The term explaining such cases is called genetic variation/variability. In the case of chickens without feathers, the process is absolutely natural, there is no genetic modification or genetic engineering that has existed for several years and is well known around the world. Natural variation/variability, as in the case of a chicken without feathers, is not a specially created project. A huge number of people are fighting for the preservation of natural genetic diversity, which today seems useless, but may be useful in the future. A chicken without feathers is an example of this. In many regions, feathers are needed by the bird in order to control and maintain the desired body temperature. However, broilers are burdened with feathers, as they are heavily fattened by poultry farmers to increase weight. Broilers grown in tropical regions suffer terribly from high temperatures. Farmers make great efforts to maintain the right temperature in chicken coops and spend a lot of time plucking birds. It is for these reasons that chicken meat is quite expensive, and raising birds can be very costly in hot countries due to the constant cooling of the room. The main advantage of chickens without feathers is the ability to tolerate a hot climate. If the birds are featherless, farmers will invest in the growth of chickens, not in maintaining their temperature. The hybrid will also allow farmers to save money by making ventilation unnecessary to prevent chicken coops from overheating.

My motive was the desire to help both farmers and the birds themselves, who have to survive in hot countries. With a decrease in the level of complexity of preparing poultry for sale, meat prices fall. Until now, a chicken without feathers seemed useless to humanity, which is why they were used only by universities to conduct studies. But I wanted to take the opportunity to show that such a broiler can bring a lot of benefits and has a large number of advantages. I believe that bald chickens will be highly appreciated by both farmers and consumers, and the chickens themselves living in hot countries will be pleased with this innovation.

Without genetic engineering

– In one of your articles it was mentioned that as a result, a chicken without feathers was obtained by crossing a mutated bald chicken born in California and an ordinary broiler. No genetic engineering intervention. Is it true?

– Absolutely right! There have been many similar cases of mutant animals being born in history, and fortunately, in 1954, a mutation of a chicken was discovered at the University of California and presented by scientists, I just crossed it with an ordinary broiler for my studies.

– Your opponents, various animal protection services argue that the lack of feathers in a bird leads to skin diseases, health problems, and is a difficulty during mating. Could you comment on this?

– All those who claim this are just illiterate people who have never studied anything like this. There is no evidence of their claims, everything they say is fiction, such birds look different, not the way we are used to seeing them, for this reason my opponents claim that this trait does a lot of harm.

Once I was told that chickens without feathers are ugly, to which I replied that monkeys probably also think that people are ugly, simply because we are not covered with such a thick hair cover.

I assure you, there is no evidence of their words, all the prejudices on the part of animal advocates are just judgments. I have been raising chickens without feathers for 15 years, thousands of chickens, a huge number of flocks, no diseases or predisposition to them have been observed. As I said, their advantage is to maintain the right body temperature.

I will give you an example of Eskimos, people who are used to life in the north. If we take off their warm clothes, they will die of cold. If we take the same Eskimos and put them in the tropics without removing their fur coats, then they will simply get heat stroke and suffer from too high, unusually high temperature for them. We must soberly consider, judge the situation and take into account the specific conditions in which animals have to live. It's simple: chickens with feathers suffer in tropical countries because they are covered with feathers. Chickens without feathers are much easier to live in such regions. The absence of feathers is their benefit and advantage, and all those who oppose it simply do not have any evidence and adequate reasons for accusations.

– You mentioned that chickens without feathers also have the advantage of rapid growth, is this a natural process, or does something contribute to their accelerated growth?

– I'll explain briefly. When animals are raised for meat production (cattle, pork, lamb or poultry), the faster the animal grows, the more rational meat production is. The importance of rational production implies that it becomes more accessible to consumers.

Broilers are bred so that they grow faster. Much attention is paid to their appetite. The more they eat, the better and faster they grow. The chicken can be grown in a fairly short time. It is for this reason that chicken meat is much cheaper than beef.

– Is it true that chickens without feathers do less harm to the environment, since feathers are useless, only pollute the environment and require recycling?

– Absolutely right.

The total gene

– Are there genes for fear, talent or genius?

I believe there are genes for everything. But the question is, what is the percentage ratio. It is difficult to understand whether this very talent was obtained at the genetic level from parents or under the influence of the environment. It is almost impossible to recognize whether talent is a genetic component or not.

– Do you believe in God and do you consider it normal to interfere with the natural processes of nature, modifying what was created by God

Personally, I am an atheist and do not believe in God. I believe in humanity. But most of my colleagues are religious, and I'll tell you how they feel about it.

Looking around, we can see a lot of modifications, and those who believe in God believe that it was he who created this very variation: plants, animals of various colors, sizes and shapes.

Believing in God does not mean that everything should have an identical appearance. When we go outside, we clearly see that everything in the environment around us has a certain individuality and difference. Look at insects: an incredible number of different varieties among insects and any other creatures on this planet.

In my opinion, it is very stupid to say that the Lord wants to see only one standard appearance for each creature he created. This is absolutely absurd, unreal! People are very afraid of change.

An African who comes to a country where the overwhelming majority of the population is light–skinned, unfortunately, receives a biased attitude and contempt from others. But there are also countries where the largest part of the population is black, who are not used to seeing representatives of other races, and a white person who comes to the territory of this country will also face similar problems.

There have been cases in some African countries: when an albino child was born in a family, they simply killed him. I want to emphasize that albinos are not a new species specially created by man. This is a completely natural case of mutation, which, according to believers, was created by the Lord.

As I said, I have many religious friends, also scientists, engaged in almost the same work as me. They hold the opinion that there should be variation, modification in the world, and they also believe that, as scientists, they should apply all their knowledge and skills in order to improve our planet, creating innovations that would help humanity.

As you know, there are many different genetic diseases, but they were also created by God, and scientists who believe in God are daily looking for ways to get rid of this problem by creating something new. Are they thereby acting against the will of the Lord? All of the above on this issue is my opinion and observations. I hope I've made myself clear enough.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru  27.05.2016