【单选题】

The Food andDrugAdministration said on Wednesday that it is trying to track down as many as 386 piglets that may have been genetically engineered and wrongfully sold into the U.S. food supply.

The focus of the FD
A、investigation is on pigs raised by researchers at the University of Illinois in UrbanaChampaign. They engineered the animals with two genes: one is a cow gene that increases milk production in the sow; the other, a synthetic gene, makes the milk easier for piglets to digest. The goal was to raise bigger pigs faster.
There has been no evidence that either genetically altered plants or animals actually trigger human illness, but critics warn that potential side effects remain unknown. University officials say their tests showed the piglets were not born with the altered genes, but FD
A、roles require even the offspring of genetically engineered animals to be destroyed so they won’t get into the food supply.
The FDA, in a quickly arranged news conference on Wednesday prompted by inquiries by US
A、TODAY, said the University of Illinois would face possible sanctions and fines for selling the piglets to a livestock broker, who in turn sold them to processing plants.
Both the FD
A、and the university say the pigs that entered the market do not pose a risk to consumers.But the investigation follows action by the U.S.Department ofAgriculture inDecember to fine a Texas company that contaminated 500,000 bushels of soybeans with com that had been genetically altered to produce a vaccine for pigs.
Critics see such cases as evidence of the need for more government oversight of a burgeoning (新兴的) area of scientific research. "This is a small incident, but it’s incidents like this that could destroy consumer confidence and export confidence," says StephanieChilds of the Grocery Manufacturers ofAmeric
A、"We already haveEurope shaky on biotech. The countries to which we export are going to look at this."
The University of Illinois says it tested theDN
A、of every piglet eight times to make sure that the animal hadn’t inherited the genetic engineering of its mother. Those piglets that did were put back into the study. Those that didn’t were sold to the pig broker, "Any pig that was tested negative for the genes since 1999 has been sent off to market." saysCharles Zukoski. vice chancellor for research.
But FD
A、deputy commissioner LesterCrawford says that under the terms of the university’s agreement with the FDA, the researchers were forbidden to remove the piglets without FD
A、approval. "The University of Illinois failed to check with FD
A、to see whether or not the animals could be sold on the open market.And they were not to be used under any circumstance for fooD、"
The FD
A、is responsible for regulating and overseeing transgenic animals because such genetic manipulation is considered an unapproved animal drug.
The 386 piglets wrongfully sold into food supply are from ______.
A、Europe
B．anAmerican research organization
C．a meat processing plant
D．an animal farm