Family Dog Cloned, Thanks To Dolly Patents 261
patentpundit writes "BioArts International announced today that they have delivered the world's first commercially cloned dog, a 10-week old Labrador named Lancey, to Florida residents Edgar and Nina Otto. According to the press release issued by the company, 'BioArts International is a biotech company focused on unique, untapped markets in the global companion animal, stem cell and human genomics industries. The Best Friends Again program is a collaboration between BioArts and the Sooam Biotech Research Foundation in South Korea, home to the best and most experienced dog cloning team in the world.' The technology that makes this animal cloning possible stems from the cloning patents developed at the Roslin Institute for the cloning of the now famous, or infamous depending on your view, Dolly the sheep."
Why? (Score:5, Insightful)
A race horse or some prized show animal I could maybe understand. But what's the point of cloning a companion animal?
Re:Why? (Score:5, Insightful)
If you have to ask, then you couldn't possibly understand.
I dunno about cat people, but, as a 'dog person'...I can tell you that my animals really have become a part of the family. They aren't treated like 'dogs' or animals, they are really more just little fuzzy people that don't talk much in our homes.
When I lose my pups....I grieve over them like I would a friend or family member that is close to me.
In fact...I've often though, if you don't feel this way about your pets....why own one?
RePet? (Score:1, Insightful)
The first thing I thought was 6th day...
The second thing I thought was "good, can we just clone cow flesh now instead of raising cows?"
Its not the same pet, folks... (Score:5, Insightful)
It may look the same, but its not the same.
Heck, the pet may not even look the same, depending on if some of the factors in coloration are environmentally induced.
More importantly, behavior is very much a factor of the pet's environment. It certainly isn't going to know who you are without the same amount of work you'd have to put into a puppy or another dog.
I'm not totally against cloning technologies, but I wish people would invest in shelter dogs instead of spending tens of thousands of dollars to add another animal to the existing population. Your old pet had a good life with you, why don't you share that with a pet who never had the same chance?
Re:Why? (Score:5, Insightful)
The old and tired bumper sticker sums it up nicely:
"The more people I meet, the more I like my dog"
My dogs and cat are members of the family. I'd throw my neighbor's sprogs under a train to save my dog.
But with so many animals in shelters, it seems a bit odd to clone one (other than to say you can). Go give a new one a good home.
Sheldon
Re:Why? (Score:3, Insightful)
I see you've never had a beloved dog or cat. I feel sorry for you.
My cat (actually my daughter's cat) got me through a divorce, a home foreclosure, and a bankrupcy. A dog or a cat will give love without demanding anything from you except food, water, and a place to take a shit.
A dog won't nag, a cat won't scold. They're always there for you. Their love is unconditional. I'd clone Little One in a heartbeat if I had the money.
Re:Why? (Score:5, Insightful)
I think trying to xerox the dog kinda misses the point. You're going to spend the entire dogs life wondering why he's not exactly like his progenitor.
Get a new dog, and you can keep your good memories of the previous dog untainted.
Re:Why? (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes yes, this is precisely the point.
A dog is a guy, one loves them. True. But they are an experience that changes your life.
What you want to do if you loose a great companion dog is grieve... and then, when youre ready, go and have a new adventure with a new dog! Why the exact same genome?
The genome means nothing to human emotions. Nothing at all. We can adopt and love our children as our own. We can love people that are not in our family and will never be.
The genome is only a code that generaly states how the hell the thingie will look, what diseases it inherits, what inheritable strenghts can it inherit. But its not, at all, the same individual (it really CANT be the same individual, you see? Not in this universe. To quote Dr. House "ive complained, but there you have it").
Re:Why? (Score:5, Insightful)
Not at all the case. I love my dog dearly (the cats are OK too I guess...) But that's really part of the problem I see with this.
I accept that you love your pets and accept them as members of your family. That's great and I understand completely - I'm in the same boat. But, if another member of your family died, would you also clone them? Cloning a beloved pet only strikes me as slightly less creepy than cloning a beloved child that died too early...
Like I said in a post above, genetically identical != same animal. We (typically) outlive our pets. That's just the way it is. Forming an emotional bond to an animal just because it shares genes with an animal that you loved just seems unhealthy.
Re:Why? (Score:2, Insightful)
If your sister died, would you have her cloned? What about your son or daughter?
I love my dogs very much. I would think it an insult to them to think that cloning would "bring them back" any more than it would bring back a human family member.
Re:Why? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Why? (Score:3, Insightful)
The genome is only a code that generaly states how the hell the thingie will look, what diseases it inherits, what inheritable strenghts can it inherit.
But there are also elements of personality which are genetic. No, a clone won't be the same dog, but it will be effectively its identical twin and more like the old dog than any new dog could be.
Re:Its not the same pet, folks... (Score:5, Insightful)
And in the end, the only real answer is : "Because it makes me happy"
Re:Why? (Score:3, Insightful)
To further this thought, some people might not actually want the SAME dog, but a dog with the same temperment and behavioural tendencies.
But then, I'm not a pet person at all. So I might not "get it". I do know that I would want a dog that can be easily trained not to bark or crap in my house, though.
So if you had one that was a breeze to train why not get it's genetic identical ?
Re:Why? (Score:3, Insightful)
I totally hear that. I would be devastated if something happened to my cats.
I confess that I'm now a cat person. I wasn't 18 months ago. I liked cats more after living with my friend's ginger tom for a while, but still wasn't a cat lover per se.
Then last year I got two Maine Coons. Anyone who has a Maine Coon will understand when I say 'nuff said.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maine_Coon [wikipedia.org]
Best. Cats. Ever.
Re:Its not the same pet, folks... (Score:5, Insightful)
And in the end, the only real answer is : "Because it makes me happy"
But you also need the follow-on supporting thought: "And my happiness is more important than everybody else's."
Re:Why? (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Its not the same pet, folks... (Score:4, Insightful)
1) By nature, cloning a dog creates a new dog and eliminates the opportunity another dog could have. Eating at a restaurant, on the other, only deprives the establishment of food, food which the hungry masses wouldn't get in time anyway.
2) It's a biological thing to want to have a baby of your own (however, I really think more people on should be adopting)
3) Again, doesn't deprive anyone of anything material - only of clean air.
4) Because to some people, those extra 0s on the bank statement are primary, the kids and wife secondary.
5) Still doesn't deprive anyone of anything.
Re:Its not the same pet, folks... (Score:3, Insightful)
No one's happiness but my own is in my power to achieve or to destroy.
Re:Why? (Score:1, Insightful)
That's fine so long as you don't delude yourself into thinking it will be exactly the same as the original. However, I forsee a very strong potential for taking advantage of grieving pet owners by suggesting otherwise. It doesn't mean the technology shouldn't exist, but perhaps articles like this should focus more on what can't ever be done.
For anyone who does want a dog with known personality traits, try looking in a humane shelter first. Most reputable shelters have staff with experience on a wide range of dog and cat personalities, it can be useful to talk with them about your prefrences. The shelter may even have the kind of pet you want, if they do adoption will be far cheaper and probably just as effective.
Re:Why? (Score:5, Insightful)
I agree. My wive adopted a rescue puppy that we a breeder at a puppy mill. She was the most loving animal you have ever seen.
We lost her after only a year because of kidney failure. Both my wife and I where heart broken. Three weeks later my wife and went to our local shelter and found this really sweet 10 month old puppy. She seemed to fall in love with my wife and now is a great member of our family.
I wish I could have brought back my old dog and give her a good life from beginning to end. Even with cloning I can not.
If you really are a dog person and lose your pet then I would suggest that the best way to show your love is to go to a shelter and give one of those dogs a good home.
Re:Why? (Score:3, Insightful)
Why you gotta pick on ducks? The entire production animal ecosystem consist of animals "artificially enlarged."
Cows don't normally eat corn, antibiotics, and parts of other cows. But that's what we put in the feed trough.
The notion of "animal abuse" seems incongruous with the fact that said animals exist solely to be slaughtered and eaten.
As a twin. (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Why not? (Score:1, Insightful)
Either your a vegetarian or a hypocrite ... and I'm betting you eat meat.
Cat is just cheaper meat!
The cruelty isn't in killing them, but in HOW you kill them :D
Re:Why? (Score:1, Insightful)
It still doesn't make sense.
I'm a "dog person", too; I haven't had a chance to enrich my life yet since I'm still a student, but suffice to say that I want a dog at least as much as other people want children, and that I know that when I'll get one, it'll be the most wonderful moment of my life - the beginning of an era of love and companionship.
I very much understand what it's like to have a dog - and, more to the point, what it's like to NOT have one, because that's the situation I find myself in right now.
That being said, if your dog dies - and unfortunately, since dogs don't live as long as humans do, it WILL happen -, cloning him or her won't bring him back to life. In fact, it's not going to do anything at all other than giving you a new dog that happens to have exactly the same DNA as your old dog (not counting issues that may creep up during cloning; I'm not sure how error-prone the process is).
But why would you care about that? If my malamute (that's the breed I'm in love with) dies, I know it'll take me a long time until a new dog will be able to fill the void she'll have left, but once I *do* get a new dog, why would I care about whether her DNA matches that of my previous dog? What I will care about is having a loving companion again, but I don't need a cloned dog for that - I just need a good dog breeder I trust who takes good care of their dogs.
In the end, you're paying a large sum of money for something that doesn't matter - not for a new companion, but rather for the totally irrelevant fact that your new companion will have the same DNA as your old companion.
People probably believe in their sorrow that it'll somehow really be their old companion that's brought back, but it's not going to be the case. I don't want to say "they'll be in for a rude awakening", since chances are that they'll be happy with the new pup no matter what, but they could've had the same happiness for much less.
Re:Its not the same pet, folks... (Score:2, Insightful)
then you are weak or ignorant. Most people have plenty of control over other people's happiness. The reflective individual acknowledges this and treats this power with respect.
Re:Its not the same pet, folks... (Score:1, Insightful)
Very sad this got modded to +4 Insightful.