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Location: Essex, UK
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 14,147
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This is a very cruel and selfish fad. Think of the breeding bitches being put through these experimental procedures, and all the `failures` - let alone all the aborted litters and euthanised puppies who don`t make the grade.
Cloning is not an exact science. I hope it stays this expensive.
Canines are considered one of the more difficult mammals to clone because of their reproductive cycle that includes difficult-to-predict ovulations.
Scores of dogs have been cloned using so-called somatic cell nuclear transfer, a technique for hollowing out the nucleus of a donor egg and injecting it with the donor's genetic material, which is typically skin tissue taken from the ear.
Ra said stem cells from fat tissue are far easier to reprogram and there is about a 20 percent chance a manipulated cell will result in a clone, an improvement over the previous method where the success rate was in the single digits.
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On the heels of a U.S. company's announcement that it will auction off five dog clonings to the general public next month, two prominent animal welfare organizations have released a report documenting the cruelty inherent in the practice.
Earlier this week, BioArts International of California unveiled what it calls the "Best Friends Again" program, which aims to replicate five family dogs. Bidding will start at $100,000 and begins June 18.
BioArts is undertaking the project with the Sooam Biotech Research Foundation in South Korea, where one of the principal scientists is Hwang Woo Suk. In 2004, a team led by Dr. Hwang reported that it had made cloned human embryos and stem cells -- claims later found to be fraudulent.
Shortly after BioArts' announcement, the Humane Society of the United States and the American Anti-Vivisection Society released a report titled "Buyers Beware: Pet Cloning Is Not for Pet Lovers."
"It is time for would-be pet cloners to be revealed for what they are -- hucksters who have been involved in questionable activities, including preying upon people who have developed a strong bond with a beloved pet," says Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The HSUS.
The study shows that
more than 99 percent of cloning attempts reported in scientific journals failed to produce a healthy animal. Researchers subjected more than 530 dogs and cats to invasive and painful procedures including hormone treatments and surgeries to produce just five cloned dogs and 11 cloned cats that survived more than 30 days. The HSUS/AAVS report also raises concerns about the fact that the U.S. pet cloning industry is not regulated like other research facilities that experiment on animals.