#42: Why China’s 18,000-Litre Super Cows Are Entering Haryana via Cloned Embryos
One Chinese experiment altered cow genes to reduce allergenic milk proteins, but such gene-edited milk in India remains untested, unlabelled, and unregulated.
Dragon Dairies: Gene-Edited Chinese Embryos Enter Haryana’s Cow Sheds
"Dragon Dairies" sounds like a bad science fiction thriller. But in Haryana’s cow sheds today, it is a hard reality.
Quietly and without fanfare, gene-edited bovine embryos from China - the land of the dragon - are making their way into India’s dairy heartland.
These microscopic interlopers promise supercharged milk yields, but they carry with them a host of troubles.
This is not a harmless innovation; it is a stealth invasion of India’s dairy sector, and the silence around it is alarming. We break down why every Indian who pours a glass of milk should be concerned.
This newsletter is a part of Zero1 Writers Network, made possible with much support from Zerodha.
To understand the gravity, consider the science. Chinese labs have been cloning and gene-editing dairy cows with unprecedented results.
In early 2023, state media in China hailed the birth of three cloned “super cows” - Holstein-Friesian dairy animals engineered to produce an astonishing 18k litres of milk a year.
That’s nearly seven times what an average Indian cross-bred cow produces in a year. It even dwarfs the output of a high-yield US or European cow by a wide margin.
These Chinese scientists created over a hundred cloned embryos from the cells of elite cows, implanted them in surrogates, and achieved success with a few ultra-milkers.
Only 5 in 10k cows naturally produce that kind of volume, but cloning lets a lab copy-paste such rare, productive genes at will.
In short, China has figured out how to mass-produce milk machines in bovine form.
And they are just getting started - plans are afoot to raise a herd of 1k “super cows” within a couple of years. These are not fairy tales; this is cutting-edge genetic technology deployed at an industrial scale.
It’s the kind of breakthrough that has massive implications for any country that values its dairy industry.
India, of course, is the world’s largest milk producer and home to a dairy industry that is the pride of our agriculture.
Last year, India produced about 230 million tonnes of milk - roughly a quarter of all milk produced on the planet.
Dairy is not some niche sector for us; it’s the single largest agricultural commodity, contributing around 5% to the national economy and providing a livelihood to over eight crore farmers.
Most of these are smallholders for whom a couple of cows or buffalo are economic mainstays.
Milk in India is more than just a drink - it is security, nutrition, and cultural heritage rolled into one. This makes the prospect of unregulated, gene-tampered embryos sneaking into our barns not only a scientific concern but a national issue.
It’s about the integrity of an industry that affects almost every Indian family’s daily life.
So, what exactly is happening in Haryana?
In the villages of this state - famously part of India’s “milk belt” - there are growing whispers and reports that embryos from genetically engineered Chinese cattle are being implanted into local cows.
The goal is straightforward: produce offspring that have the same high-milk super-traits as China’s laboratory wonders.
Who wouldn’t want a cow that gives 50-60 litres of milk a day instead of 8 or 10?
The promise is irresistible to dairy breeders trying to boost profits or to meet India’s ever-growing demand for milk.
Especially after recent blows to milk supply - like the devastating 2022 outbreak of lumpy skin disease (LSD) that killed thousands of cattle and slashed milk output on some farms by up to 50% - farmers are desperate for any edge.
It’s easy to see how the lure of a “magical” imported embryo that could yield a super-producer would tempt many.
What’s harder to see, apparently, is where this trade is happening. It’s all under the radar - a quiet trafficking of genetic material with hardly any public acknowledgement.
Let’s be clear: importing cattle germplasm (semen or embryos) is not illegal in itself. India does allow controlled import of bovine embryos under strict guidelines.
In theory, an importer must get approval, follow quarantine rules, and ensure traceability by registering every imported embryo in a national database. On paper, there are layers of regulation.
In practice, however, those rules are toothless when it comes to advanced reproductive technology. The current regulatory framework was established before the advent of gene editing and cloning, which blurred the lines.
It demands that any “genetically engineered organism” get clearance from the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) before import or commercial use.
But a cloned embryo isn’t technically an alien species - it’s a genetic twin of a normal cow, so it slips through a loophole.
Even gene-edited animals (say, a cow with one gene tweaked for higher heat tolerance) exist in a grey zone: are they “engineered” or just enhanced?
Our rules haven’t been decided.
Shockingly, India has no specific law or standard governing the sale of cloned animals or their products.
We are flying blind. Regulators are asleep at the wheel while a new biotechnology storm gathers force.
The Chinese embryos exploiting these gaps pose multiple threats. First, the biosecurity risk is nightmarish. Importing any live germplasm carries the danger of hitchhiking pathogens.
Have we learned nothing from past episodes? The melamine-tainted milk powder scandal in 2008, which led India to ban Chinese dairy products outright, showed the cost of lax vigilance in what we feed our children.
In livestock, diseases can be even more catastrophic. India only eradicated rinderpest (a cattle plague) relatively recently, and we still battle foot-and-mouth disease and brucellosis.
If a rogue embryo or semen straw brings in a new strain of virus or bacteria, our cows have no immunity. Picture a novel bovine disease ripping through the densely populated cattle sheds of Haryana and Punjab.
It would make LSD’s 6.5k active cases last year look like a blip. One single contaminated embryo is all it takes to spark an epidemic.
Yet who is certifying that these clandestine Chinese embryos are disease-free? No one publicly, that’s for sure. It’s a biosecurity roll of the dice, and Indian farmers and consumers stand to lose.
Second, there’s the food safety and consumer rights aspect.
Milk from a gene-edited cow may look and taste the same, but do we know for certain it’s harmless?
These Chinese “dragon” cows are untested in India. Gene editing is precise but not infallible - off-target effects can occur.
Without proper scientific scrutiny, we cannot rule out subtle changes in milk composition or quality. For example, one Chinese experiment altered a cow’s genes to make milk with less of an allergenic protein.
That might sound beneficial, but what if it affects the nutrition profile or has unexpected side effects? Who will test the milk from the first gene-altered calf born on Haryana soil?
As of now, nobody, because no one is officially admitting those calves exist. This is fundamentally a consumer rights violation.
Indians have no way of knowing if the milk packet on their breakfast table came from a normal buffalo, a cloned cow, or a gene-tweaked animal.
There are zero labelling rules addressing this, since officially such animals “aren’t there.” The truth is being swept under the rug, and that is unacceptable.
Third, and arguably most worrying, are the strategic and economic implications.
India’s dairy sector has always been a backbone of the rural economy - a decentralised, domestically driven system that even the Amul co-operative movement built upon.
What happens when we start injecting foreign biotech into this mix without a plan? We risk undermining our own breeding programmes and handing over the keys to our food security to external entities.
Remember, China itself used to depend on importing cattle for its dairies, with 70% of its cows sourced from abroad. They embarked on cloning and gene-editing precisely to break that dependence and become self-sufficient.
Now imagine if India flips into the opposite dependency - sourcing high-performance genetics from China’s labs.
It’s a bitter irony: from the country of “Operation Flood” and the White Revolution, which showed the world how to be self-reliant in milk, we are sliding into a new dependence on Chinese biotech.
Strategically, that’s as foolish as depending on foreign seeds for our staple crops. It could compromise our food sovereignty.
Economically, small farmers could be squeezed out if the market demands yields only these super-animals can provide.
A handful of big players might import embryos in bulk and raise franken-cows in factory farms, undercutting the small gaushala owner who has 10 desi cows. This is how rural livelihoods unravel - quietly, in the name of progress.
Even in the best-case scenario, if gene-edited livestock technology is managed well, India should still approach it on its own terms, with full public debate and safeguards.
Yes, there are potential upsides to biotechnology in dairy.
Our own scientists at the National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI) are working on gene-edited embryos to enhance heat tolerance, so cows keep giving milk even in searing summers.
NDRI has also created embryos that knock out the gene for a milk allergen (Beta-lactoglobulin) to make hypoallergenic milk in the future.
These are promising initiatives - but they are happening under controlled research settings, with oversight, and with Indian public sector ethics at the core.
We can’t let some shadowy parallel pipeline of foreign embryos undercut this careful progress.
If managed properly, gene editing could indeed help us breed cows that resist diseases or yield more milk naturally.
It could reduce the need for imports of milk powder by boosting domestic output. It might even help farmers earn more from fewer animals, reducing strain on land and fodder resources.
However, none of those benefits will materialise if the technology is introduced through the back door, unregulated and unaccountable.
Unaccountable science cannot be good science. When profit or short-term gain drives decisions in secret, public interest is the casualty.
What has been the response of our authorities so far? In a word: inadequate.
The central government’s Animal Husbandry department periodically updates guidelines on paper and touts schemes like the Rashtriya Gokul Mission to improve indigenous breeds.
There are certainly lofty statements - for instance, officials often repeat that cloning and gene technology should be used to boost India’s own hardy breeds, such as the Gir and Tharparkar, which are disease-resistant and climate-adapted.
And indeed, India made headlines by cloning a Gir cow last year for the first time. But where are the concrete actions to address the here-and-now threat of illegal embryo imports?
State animal husbandry departments and central agencies have been largely mute. No task force has been publicly announced to investigate the reports emerging from places like Haryana.
No advisory warning farmers against unverified imported germplasm. Not even a token customs alert that we know of.
The only tangible protective measure on record is the continuing ban on Chinese milk products - a ban that pointedly does not cover live embryos or genetic material.
It’s as if the bureaucrats have shut their eyes to anything that isn’t tinned baby formula.
Meanwhile, the dragon’s DNA slithers in through this policy blind spot. The authorities’ inertia in the face of such a clear threat is nothing short of a dereliction of duty.
This note is a call to action. Indians must not remain complacent, assuming that “someone up there” is surely keeping our milk safe.
The evidence suggests the opposite. It falls to us - alert citizens, conscientious journalists, proactive farmers’ groups - to force this issue into the spotlight.
We need transparency and accountability right now. The government, both at the Centre and state level, must come clean: Are Chinese gene-edited or cloned embryos entering our country?
If yes, under what approvals and what monitoring? Names need to be named and details disclosed.
If no approvals exist, then a crackdown is in order - today. Seize unauthorised genetic materials at airports, investigate veterinary clinics and IVF centres that might be involved, and prosecute those who endanger our biosecurity.
Furthermore, India needs to expedite the development of a robust regulatory framework for gene-edited livestock.
The draft guidelines, which have been in discussion purgatory since 2020, must be finalised and should cover animals, not just crops.
The loophole that allows cloned animals to be a free-for-all must be closed. Every imported embryo or semen straw should be DNA-tested and health-screened in a government lab before it’s cleared for use - no exceptions.
If necessary, extend the Chinese dairy import ban to include bovine germplasm until protocols are explicitly ironclad.
This may ruffle feathers diplomatically, but national interest comes first. Equally important, support our farmers in making informed choices.
Many dairy farmers might not even know the difference between a normally bred calf and a cloned one, let alone the hidden risks.
Government and agricultural extension agencies should launch an awareness campaign, explaining the dangers of unverified embryos, the long-term costs (a “super” cow might have super needs - expensive feed, cooling systems, and veterinary care that make it unviable for a small farmer).
Farmers should be encouraged to report any agents or companies offering miracle embryos in secret.
Whistleblowers must be protected. Remember, these are the same farmers who adopted artificial insemination and cross-breeding in the past with hopes of higher yield, only to find many exotic-breed cows couldn’t handle Indian conditions, falling sick or becoming infertile in our summers.
We cannot allow them to be misled yet again by a high-tech snake oil.
At the end of the day, the dairy sector belongs to the people of India - from the farmer milking his cows at 4 AM to the mother pouring milk into her child’s cup.
We all have a stake in it.
We have the right to demand that the milk we drink is obtained ethically, safely, and in a way that uplifts our own communities. Let’s not trade away our hard-won dairy self-sufficiency for a quick fix that could blow up in our faces.
The image of a “dragon” in our dairies is not just a clever metaphor - it is a warning. If we do nothing, the situation will spiral beyond control, and we’ll be left to deal with the aftermath of others’ reckless experiments.
Instead, let’s roar back with vigilance, science-based policy, and citizen activism. We owe it to our farmers, our consumers, and to every sacred cow that has fed us, to keep India’s dairies ours - safe, transparent, and thriving on our own terms.
It’s time to shine a light on the cow sheds and chase the dragons out.
Much thanks to the support from good folks at Zero1 by Zerodha, making the research for this newsletter possible.
Best,
Jayant Mundhra
LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube
And, check out my other newsletters here with:
5.4k+ others at Decoding The Dragon (https://t.ly/chnwj)
4.7k+ at BharatNama (https://t.ly/bwj)
3.7k+ at Deepdives with Jay (https://t.ly/dwj)
..
References
https://theweek.com/china/1020641/china-has-cloned-3-super-cows-that-produce-more-milk-than-average
https://dahd.gov.in/sites/default/files/2024-07/GuidelinesForExportImportofBovineGermplasm.pdf
https://crispr-gene-editing-regs-tracker.geneticliteracyproject.org/india-animals/
https://www.fas.usda.gov/data/india-india-extends-ban-milk-and-dairy-product-imports-china-1
https://www.dairyglobal.net/dairy/breeding/cloned-dairy-cows-whats-the-situation/
Hi Jayant, thanks a lot for your informative posts, which is bang on and so well researched. In order to bring a real change, we need action. I strongly believe - Action is the only Strategy. Are you also writing to the right officials, state governments, ministries, PMO offices, putting a petition or filing RTIs where needed, etc. ?
I would love to do so but since everyone else who's a reader is busy with routine life and individual careers that the motivation at times falls short. I would sincerely hope and appreciate if you take this to the next level by taking actions as the right informed citizen on our behalf to take the matter up as a public concern and I'm sure your readers/public will support you for it. Think over it, how these insights, research can be taken up & submitted officially to bring actions. I would love to collaborate with you and contribute in my capacity to this national interest cause.
In India Genomic material imports alongwith dairy products from China is complete banned. Even cloned embryos are also treated as GM crops and they are also banned. Could you please help us understand the dairy farms where these are being used and have successfully created cows with 18000 Liters lactation ? Half of your story about cloned cows is plausible but its presence in Haryana needs to be validated.