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First Contract Signed to Clone Pet
February 18, 2008 12:05 AM
by
findingDulcinea Staff
A California woman who claims her pit bull saved her life is paying $150,000 to a South Korean company to clone the deceased dog, Booger.
30-Second Summary
Booger defended his owner from an attack by another dog. Now his grateful and grieving owner has turned to cutting-edge genetic science in the hope of creating a Booger clone. It is reportedly the first order of its kind.
The Humane Society has criticized the idea of “commercial cloning,” on the grounds that the health of the animal created could be compromised.
A tadpole was the first creature to be cloned, in 1952. Mammal cloning started 12 years ago, when Dolly the sheep was born. Unlike the clones of science fiction, Dolly wasn’t identical to the animal her genetic material was taken from.
She died in 2003, at an age well below a sheep’s life expectancy. Her death suggested to some scientists that the process of cloning might shorten an animal’s lifespan.
Since Dolly, other animals, including dogs, have been cloned. It is not believed that the procedure has been successfully performed with humans. An organization called Clonaid claims to have created 13 human clones, but has not produced any convincing evidence.
Cloning, even of humans, has not been banned by the U.S. government. Human cloning, though, is illegal in a number of states.
The Humane Society has criticized the idea of “commercial cloning,” on the grounds that the health of the animal created could be compromised.
A tadpole was the first creature to be cloned, in 1952. Mammal cloning started 12 years ago, when Dolly the sheep was born. Unlike the clones of science fiction, Dolly wasn’t identical to the animal her genetic material was taken from.
She died in 2003, at an age well below a sheep’s life expectancy. Her death suggested to some scientists that the process of cloning might shorten an animal’s lifespan.
Since Dolly, other animals, including dogs, have been cloned. It is not believed that the procedure has been successfully performed with humans. An organization called Clonaid claims to have created 13 human clones, but has not produced any convincing evidence.
Cloning, even of humans, has not been banned by the U.S. government. Human cloning, though, is illegal in a number of states.
Headline Links: ‘First Order for Pet Dog Cloning’
A California woman will pay $150,000 to a South Korean company to clone her late dog. Seoul National University researchers, who in 2005 cloned a puppy, will do the work, according to the BBC. Cloning the pit bull, named Booger, is the first case of commercial dog cloning.
Source: The BBC
Reaction: Humane Society condemns commercial cloning
The Humane Society of the United States has condemned the idea of commercial animal cloning. “Given the current pet overpopulation problem, which costs millions of animals their lives and millions in public tax dollars each year, the cloning of pets has no social value and in fact may lead to increased animal suffering,” according to a statement on their site.
Source: Humane Society of the United States
Background: Human clone claims, cloning sheep
Human cloning claims come along every few years, but there is no solid evidence any attempt has been successful. South Korean scientists claimed in 1998 that a human embryo had been cloned, but the experiment was interrupted. In 2002, a group called Clonaid announced it had cloned 13 people, but never produced the clones or the research. A 2004 paper about human embryo cloning published in Science was retracted due to lack of evidence.
Source: National Human Genome Research Institute
Dolly the cloned sheep was euthanized in 2003. She was cloned in 1996 from an adult cell, and her birth was called a scientific breakthrough. Her life span, however, was shorter than average. Ethics writer Patrick Dixon told the BBC that Dolly could affect human cloning: “the real issue is what Dolly died from, and whether it was linked to premature ageing. She was not old—by sheep standards—to have been put down."
Source: The BBC
Reference: How cloning works, cloning laws
Dolly was not an exact clone of the adult her genetic material was taken from, but their chromosomal DNA was identical. She was created using reproductive cloning, but researchers are investigating other techniques, including recombinant DNA cloning. A third type, called therapeutic or "embryo" cloning, involves the production of human embryos for use in research.
Source: Human Genome Project Information
The U.S. federal government has not banned human cloning, but more than a dozen states have laws banning stem cell or cloning research, according to the Center for Genetics and Society.
Source: Center for Genetics and Society
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