School officials and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are investigating the disappearance of pigs involved in genetic-engineering studies at the University of Illinois.

Approximately 386 pigs involved in experiments at the Urbana-Champaign campus were sent to a livestock dealer for slaughter and then on to processing for human consumption.

Officials do not know whether these pigs have made it into food circulation for sure, but they say the possibility exists.

The FDA and university officials have assured individuals that no health threat will be posed, even if the pigs did indeed enter the food supply.

The experiment involved giving two genes, one from a cow and one synthetically generated, to sows to increase their milk production. Increasing a sow’s milk production allows her piglets to digest milk more effectively and possibly grow more quickly.

Some of the pigs acquired these genes, but many did not. Only pigs lacking the altered genes were supposed to be sent to packing plants after the labs ran numerous tests to make sure there were no altered genes present.

Geneticists conducted four tests on the animals, using samples taken from their skin, cartilage, blood and nerve tissue. According to university officials, even after the animal passed the four administered tests, an additional sample was taken and tested again. Only after an animal passed the eight tests was it supposed to be sent.

According to UI spokesman Bill Murphy, DNA samples from every pig tested were kept on file. These samples are now being used by the FDA to check for the altered genes and make sure the results of all UI testing were correct.

Murphy said he was quite confident the FDA would find the same results found by experimenters at UI.

But problems arose because UI never received full permission to send the animals to market. Instead, the school received permission to render the pigs, which means cooking them down and using the remaining parts to make soap, fertilizer and feed for other animals.

Murphy said this all came as a complete surprise, because in April 2001, UI apparently informed FDA officials it was sending pigs for food production. He also said sending procedures were outlined in written documents given to FDA headquarters.

Since the FDA’s visit to UI last week, where it discovered the misunderstanding, the university ceased all shipping of pigs involved in the experiment.

“From now on, we are incinerating all pigs,” Murphy said. He also stated that all research would continue and that essentially the only change would be the way the subjects are disposed of.

Murphy also emphasized that all lines of communication are “open and cordial” between the university and the FDA. Discussion of the matter will continue when investigators return to campus over the next few weeks.

FDA officials, concerned with correct bioengineering research procedures, are viewing this problem as a serious matter, because it involves the possibility that scientists broke rules. However, if the FDA finds rules were indeed broken, it can award fines as well as suspend other university research projects.