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."
I would... (Score:2, Interesting)
Betting Pool on children now opening... (Score:3, Interesting)
Now accepting bets for how long it takes before the first replacement child is cloned. If they can do a dog, they can do a kid, and the article reads just fine if you replace "our dog" with "our child."
I'm glad I lived long enough to see Dick Tracy's "wrist radios" and William Gibson's "matrix" become reality. I'm sorry I lived long enough to see this.
Re:Why? (Score:4, Interesting)
Think of it as very expensive therapy. Having something that looks similar, but does not have the same personality should gradually allow the owner to let go.
Re:Why? (Score:5, Interesting)
I realize you're being funny, but in the true geek spirit, and being someone who loves to cook and has considered changing careers and becoming a chef, I can not resist the urge to get serious and rip this hypothesis apart.
There are actually a lot of factors, outside of the breed, that influence the taste of meat. The feed being the most important. So we'll assume that you feed it the exact same diet (and that the manufacturer of said feed does not alter it's ingredients). Then hope that the dog never gets sick and requires medication. But then, maybe your original dog got sick and needed medication and that contributed somewhat to it's flavour. Environmental conditions also play a vital role. Did the dog get lots of exercise ? Muscle strength contributes immensely to the texture, tenderness and flavour of the meat. Was the dog ever abused (maybe a previous owner) ? Stress releases all kinds of hormones and chemicals in the body that can affect flavour. Leave the dog alone for a day, get him all worked up and upset, and come back to have a completely different tasting animal.
Farmers who compete on quality and taste (as oppose to cost) have come up with all kinds of theories and practices (some proven, some superstitions, some plausible but untested) that they claim gives their meat a superior taste and texture. For example, some cow farmers actually massage their meat with electric massagers, claiming it produces more tender beef.
Ultimately I must side with the GP. Cloned Animal != Same Animal.
Re:Why? (Score:5, Interesting)
Actually, yes :(
I would never buy meat from a farmer that does that, but in some parts of the world they do truly sick things to the animals (like skinning them alive) because they think it makes the meat taste better.
One extremely popular food that could count as an example is Foie Gras [wikipedia.org]. It's duck liver (though you can get Foie Gras from other animals but unless you specify what animal then duck is usually assumed) that has been artificially enlarged via force feeding the animal. Whether or not gorging is actually uncomfortable for the animal is debatable (I have heard plausible arguments from people claiming that fowl will actually self-gorge before migration, and anecdotes from farmers who claimed the animals actually LIKE it), but it has been banned in some parts of the world because the gorging is seen as animal abuse.
Re:Why? (Score:3, Interesting)
The genome means a heck of a lot to human emotions.
Think of the many stories of twins who were separated at birth, raised in ignorance of each other, then are re-united and discover a deeper bond with each other than with anyone else. It doesn't always happen, but it happens often enough to show that there's something going on.
The perception of the genome means a lot to animal emotions.
Think of the finch studies (they're what I've read about in Dawkins' "Extended Phenotype") where a parent bird cares for its offspring in direct proportion to what percentage of the genome the parent thinks this offspring shares.
Think of pretty much the entirety of human history and its obsession with bloodlines, and male sons, and fidelity. Genome needn't matter, but it's a historical fact that it does.
It's true what you wrote that "We *can* love people not in our family". But at the same time the genome has an enormous effect on emotions.
Re:Why? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Why? (Score:3, Interesting)
So, you paid a huge sum of money on a cloned dog. How do you know you have an actual clone, and not just another dog they pulled out of the pound? Don't lab's look pretty much the same? After spending that much, I hope you've also paid for some DNA testing.
Re:Why? (Score:2, Interesting)
The Sixth Day (Score:1, Interesting)
RePet
That's all I have to say.
Liam Lynch (Score:2, Interesting)
A musician/movie director named Liam Lynch [wikipedia.org] had his cat cloned a while back by Genetic Savings & Clone [wikipedia.org].
He's had some interesting things to say about the differences and similarities between his original cat and the clone on his podcast.
Re:Why? (Score:4, Interesting)
Of course, this practice was banned, but it just goes to show you that there's nothing new under the sun.