After Dolly: The Pharmer in the Dell

No, that's not a typo you see up there in the title of this post, pharming actually exists. For eons humanity has been selecting genetic attributes in creatures both companionable and consumable to make them more ideal for their purposes in our lives. Wilmut uses the example of dogs, having originated as wolves which now look and act far less menacing in many cases. How the great carnivorous hunter became dainty and totable (or even simply a more friendly or more athletic) breed is all genetic manipulation over generations of breeding for specific trait continuation.
On a much more precise and timely scale is modern genetic manipulation of animals, in this case livestock. Only this time we were not breeding for behavior, but for products. Wilmut discusses how he and his team "wanted to do more than merely improve the performance of farmyard animals. The idea was to give these animals an entirely novel role.  . ." (51). From that wish developed the pharming industry. Which, as the name suggests, is a mash-up of pharmaceuticals and farming. In plainer terms, animals as drug factories. By manipulating certain genes (the ability took years and years of trial and error and technological advances to develop) we can, essentially, program animals to make what we need or more of what we can already obtain naturally in the way of pharmaceuticals. For example, pharmed animals can make "the human proteins factor VIII and factor IX to treat hemophilia [a disease that inhibits vital blood clotting] and the enzyme AAT. . . used to treat lung disorders such as cystic fibrosis" (51).
One of the first pharmed animals was Tracy, another famous sheep, who's "milk was rich in the human protein AAT. . . in every liter she made 35 grams" (54).

While the ethical ramifications of genetic tinkering for drugs are suspect (who knows what the animals endure with abnormal genes and if they are affected or unchanged) I must agree with Wilmut that the idea seems simple and effective. It poses little difference from the more archaic forms of genetic manipulation with the exceptions being that it is more accurate and possibly more beneficial today. Stem cell and genetic research is not the work of evil geniuses with a "God complex" but the work of everyday people looking to improve the health and well-being of others. Whatever your opinions on animal drug testing, it cannot be denied that research into stem cells and genetics in general have lead to valuable breakthroughs and have real significance for humanity.