Minneapolis, MI - When it comes to the price of mice, you pay more for defects. A mouse with arthritis runs close to $200; two pairs of epileptic mice can cost 10 times that. You want three blind mice? That'll run you about $250. And for your own custom mouse, with the genetic modification of your choosing, expect to pay as much as $100,000. Presidential Candidate Michele Bachmann can well afford them.
Always a mainstay of scientific research, mice have become a critical tool in the quest for new drugs and medical treatments, and according to Bachmann, “Mighty good eating. I can tell you. I likes' ‘em, so will you.”
It turns out that a mouse's genes are so similar to a person's that with proper manipulation - either by man or nature - they can produce an animal with an ailment akin to virtually any human medical condition.
Bachmann declares, “If I can’t eat and savor human body parts, a mouse tastes almost as good, although you need much more of them. And, of course, each defect has a different and distinctive flavor.”
As many as 25 million mice are now used in experiments each year. Where do they come from? And where do they go?
From the mouse industry, of course.
There are many vendors: The Jackson Laboratory, a nonprofit supplier in Bar Harbor, Maine, ships more than 2 million a year mostly to Ms. Bachmann.
Yet the mouse business is a challenging one. What was once a relatively simple business of breeding and shipping animals has become an extremely challenging enterprise that requires cutting-edge technology and a mastery of difficult logistics, says Bachmann, but “Lots of fun… I love boil them live and whole, fry them, and serve them to my family and friends, or for a special treat, swallow them alive. Marcus, my husband, likes to place them in his rectum and calls it his wiggle room.”
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