Three cloned piglets with a gene resistant to swine fever virus , a fatal disease for the livestock, have been born in northeast China's Jilin Province, Chinese researchers said.

The piglets, weighing 1,050 grams, 1,100 grams and 550 grams, were born Wednesday afternoon in a pig farm of the Agriculture Department, Jilin University.

Experts said the piglets were the first with the gene against swine fever in the world.

(Xinhua News Agency September 11, 2008)