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, Funny)
Re:Why? (Score:5, Funny)
Because that was the best tasting dog ever and I want seconds.
Watch out, this guy can probably kick your ass at Starcraft, too.
Re:Why? (Score:4, Funny)
When I was in Korea there was an English punk fanzine that run a phrasebook every now and again. One of the entries was "Dog eating savages!", clearly a handy phrase to know in Korean.
Re:Why? (Score:5, Funny)
You want to have a good laugh? Walk into a shelter and ask for 55 lbs of cat.
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Or ask them if they have any feeder kittens.
Re:Why? (Score:5, Funny)
You want to have a good laugh? Walk into a shelter and ask for 55 lbs of cat.
Why would they have that much pussy laying around a homeless shelter?
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.
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Are you telling me that some meat producers abuse their animals to impact the flavor?
"Jeb, I think beating that sheep then neglecting it for 3 days really added to the smoky flavor. Do you think we should try shooting it and letting it bleed to death first?"
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.
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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.
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.
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Pigs are bled to death to preserve the flavor of the meat. They are usually electrocuted first to render them unconscious, then the throat is slit.
Re:Why? (Score:4, Informative)
A Korean friend of mine told me about how very once and a while her family would take a trip out to the country, and one of their haunts was a place quite near a "dog farm." Apparently, the meat is tastier when engorged with blood, but that doesn't happen well unless the animal is tenderized while alive. So occasionally their peaceful trips to the country would be punctuated by the yelping and keening of dogs being beaten to death, simply to enhance flavor.
The Korean taste for dog is probably over-exaggerated over here, but there's apparently a (quite brutal) market for it over there. Thankfully my friend was not a consumer, but honestly, I'd think a trip to the country like that would put off quite a few potential dog-eaters!
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"Because that was the best tasting dog ever and I want seconds."
Pat him on the head and he might let you do it again!
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?
Re:Why? (Score:5, Funny)
I understand loving your pets. I love my dog and, when he goes, it will be exceeding painful. If I could have him return as a puppy when he dies it would be great.
But genetically identical != same dog. The fact that I don't need a clone doesn't mean I don't love my dog, just that I accept that he'll die one day and that nothing (not even cloning) will bring him back. Well... Maybe burying him in that old Indian burial ground a short hike from my back yard... But that just seems like I'd be asking for trouble.
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").
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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.
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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 ?
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So if you had one that was a breeze to train why not get it's genetic identical?
Because simply getting another dog of the same breed will often produce the same results. Plus, it's usually not the dog so much as the trainer. If you were successful once, you'll probably be successful again.
Want a dog that doesn't bark or crap in the house? Get a greyhound. Any greyhound. You don't need to clone mine.
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I've trained a lot of animals, mostly dogs. You know fairly quickly which ones are the smart ones and which ones are hopeless idiots. Sure, you can train the idiots - but it's a lot more work.
If there's one thing that's great about cloning - it's going to finally put this whole nature vs nurture issue in the realm of science. For things like basic animal intelligence, people will finally understand the truly overwhelming impact of nature.
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but it will be effectively its identical twin
As I understand it, there are a lot of factors involved in the gestation, which will atter the development. Temperature, available food, etc all come together, and as one example will affect the patterning of the fur. If you look at the existing cloned animals and their "parent meterial", it's obvious that they look different.
So no, it won't be an "identical twin".
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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 it
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.
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Having something that looks similar, but does not have the same personality should gradually allow the owner to let go.
I think it's more like, "You look like Dave, but you aren't acting like Dave ever would. What are you?" You know, like your dog is a pod person now. Probably not therapeutic.
Re:Why? (Score:5, Funny)
Nonsense. The dog spirit transfers from one body to the next just like any other. I should know, in my last life I was a malamute. At least, that's my excuse when I play with my balls.
mala mute? (Score:2)
An evil person who can't speak?
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.
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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.
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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
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An animal is a hell of a companion, and I've loved the dogs and cats that I've had, but they're animals. Period, end of story. If you get more out of your relationships with your animals than with people, perhaps the problem is not with other people, but with you?
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Strange isn't it?
I can watch a movie where people get blown away and slashed with chain saws with no problem, BUT let them kick one dog, and I"\'m outta there!!
Seriously..I don't know. If I saw a kid I didn't know in traffic and my dog there too about to get hit, I gotta guess I'd run to grab and save my dog first.
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The fact that you'd say that you'd kill people to save an animal is ...
Yes, most people place the 'people' animals above the 'other' animals, but the fact that we're all animals. And when those animals become basically a part of the family there is an attachment similar to any other. How hard is this for people to understand.
I've never understood why it's acceptable to make jokes about, say, killing my cat, as though it's so funny. I'm
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If I were to joke about killing their children, I imagine they wouldn't be as amused.
Maybe you just need better material; I always get hearty guffaws from the crowd once I break out the infanticide jokes.
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I agree with you to a point but I do think that by and large animals like children are inoccent where as people (adults at least) we might make a value judgement on. I would certainly try and save my neighbors children before rescuing my cat; and my neighbor to for that matter but there are other people I would certainly choose the cat over. I would help someone I don't know from danager I would help 99.9% of people I do know but there is thaty .01% that frankly I think both I and every thing else on this
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If you have to ask, then you couldn't possibly understand.
If your cat mittens died, its dead, you grieve, and you get a new pet. You don't go around trying to reanimate your dead cat do you? \
When I lose my pups....I grieve over them like I would a friend or family member that is close to me.
er... so if your wife died, you'd clone her too? I happen to know for a fact that mine thinks that's creepy on multiple levels.
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Hell no....I mean if I went to all that trouble to ki.......er.....
No..I'd not waste the money on cloning the wife.
I put a LOT of value on that 'till death do us part' part of the vows.
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If your cat mittens died,
Isn't it required to kill the cat before making mittens out of it?
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Grandma is part of the family too . . .
-Peter
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.
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Get a new dog, and you can keep your good memories of the previous dog untainted.
Says the SatanicPuppy.
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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.
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If I lost my kid, I wouldn't want a clone of that kid. That would be sick, as the clone wouldn't be the same person as the kid I lost. You can't replace a kid, cloning notwithstanding.
Same goes for pets. If your pet dies, it is gone. To think cloning brings that pet back is a lie.
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Except a cloned dog will not be the same as the original.
If it was an identical clone physically, mentally, and behaviorally then I could see, but this is just another dog that happens to look like another dog.
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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.
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So does this mean you'll also be advocating cloning your wife just before she croaks from cancer, or your kid after she gets hit by a bus? Even though the result will only LOOK like your dead wife or kid, and not actually BE them? How shallow are you?
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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.
How much would you pay for, lets say, a kidney transplant for your dog? How much would you pay for a neurosurgeon or a radiation therapy in case of cancer?
Not trolling, just curious.
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Please tell me you don't also baby talk to your dogs. I have a 2 year old whippet. She is great and part of the family but she is ...... a dog. Not a person.
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I am a cat person and trust me we are every bit as much attached to our cats as you are to your dogs. I grew up with dogs and cats. I don't personally care to have a dog myself but I certainly understand your attachment. Pets do become a part of the family. My cat is certainly one of my best friends and when she is gone I will miss her terribly and grieve for her just like the cats I grew up with and still miss today, just like a people in my life that have gone.
Still I don't think I would ever want to
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For that you need fast fossilization... and the very power of nature itself.
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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)
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.
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Ummm (Score:4, Funny)
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I agree with your post 95%. The 5% I can't agree with is your last sentence.
I love my furry children (1 dog, 2 cats). But when they're gone, they're gone. I'll probably get more, but why would I want them to be genetic twins to the ones I had? The originals will still be gone, and there's enough animals in shelters desperate for good homes that it just seems selfish and cruel to conjure up some more in a lab.
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My dad had a standard poodle that was friggin' brilliant. Everything we wanted to teach it only took a couple of training sessions. Best dog ever. I would take a clone of it in a heartbeat and when that one died I'd take another exactly like it.
I would... (Score:2, Interesting)
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Sorry, won't happen. Clones are not copies of each other any more than identical twins are the same people. Cloning a dog or cat will not give you a replica of the cloned animal because in addition to genetics the traits of an animal are very dependent on environment and even pure chance. As a rather extreme example there's not always correlation between t
Arnold Schwarzenegger's First Post (Score:2)
I'm looking for a golden retriever for my son, you can make one for me here at RePet, right?
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I'm looking for a golden retriever for my son, you can make one for me here at RePet, right? GET ON ZE CHOPPA!
Fixed that for ya.
Would that be... (Score:5, Funny)
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ADD 1 TO K GIVING K
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Amazing! (Score:2)
Out of all of them, "Family Dog" was my favorite "Amazing Stories" spin-off show that was animated and had theme music by Danny Elfman.
Uh oh (Score:2)
The cloning didn't involve any ancient burial grounds beyond a deadfall from a pet sematary did it? If so, they might want to watch their backs.
What I'd name the dog, no matter the sex. (Score:2)
Dolly the dog.
This American Life (Score:3, Informative)
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:Its not the same pet, folks... (Score:5, Insightful)
And in the end, the only real answer is : "Because it makes me happy"
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."
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No one's happiness but my own is in my power to achieve or to destroy.
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.
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5) Still doesn't deprive anyone of anything.
I don't necessarily agree. If I go out and spend extra money in a month (say, on a vacation for example), I may not donate the same amount of money to charity/church/what-have-you. Of course, that does assume you donate money in the first place.
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In some ways an environment of "you're not like " said in a turse way would influence behaviour massively. The dog (or cat) would end up very very different. I would even go so far as to suggest temprement and personality would almost be polar opposites (giving encouragement & positive attention vs giving repremands & negative attention).
Cloning has it's uses... this is not one of them.
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.
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Now accepting bets for how long it takes before the first replacement child is cloned.
I can just see the slogan for the advertising already: Who needs Lassy ? When Timmy falls down the well, we'll clone him for $99.999,95.
Warning: Replacement Timmy may not be exactly like original Timmy. Do not feed replacement Timmy after midnight. Education not included.
Same genes, different dog (Score:2)
Even if you did clone Fido(1), he wouldn't be the same dog any more than identical twins are the same person. Chances are, if he were parti-colored, he wouldn't even have the same spots. He also wouldn't have the same experiences as Fido(1). You are older and the unique experiences that made Fido(1) what he was are gone forever. In short, Fido(2), though he may look more or less like Fido(1), is not Fido(1) and never will be. If you simply must have a pure bred, go to the same breeder and get Fido(X) in the
They probably just scammed them (Score:5, Funny)
Um, yea (Score:2)
So the patents cloned a dog? (Score:5, Funny)
Wow I didn't know IP laws could get up and work in a lab much less do genetic/biologic engineering.
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Didn't Dolly die of Cancer? (Score:2)
Didn't Dolly die of Cancer? Have they solved that problem?
Chromosome pairs (Score:2)
Oh wow this is a pretty big step. Dogs have 39 chromosome pairs whereas humans have a measly 23. So its quite the feat or so scientists boast. I remember seeing a documentary explaining we'd be waiting a looong time before dog cloning because of this. Sheeps by comparison have 27.
Hollywood youth, forever (Score:2)
All those Hollywood folks seem to spend a fortune every year on trying to look young.
Why don't they just set up a pipeline of clones of themselves instead?
Starting to look your age? Time to replace yourself with the next one of you in line.
As a twin. (Score:2, Insightful)
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> evil?
Only if it has a goatee.
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On the "beloved" point, I can't see loving animals like people.
Strange as it is, people tend to treat their pets better than their family. Dog does something "bad" and it is cute or somehow bad but usually the dog is treated sternly and nicely. Kid does something "bad" and gets yelled at.
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The second thing I thought was "good, can we just clone cow flesh now instead of raising cows?"
First a minor nitpick, what you're describing isn't cloning, but more accurately described as vat growing. Cloning implies you'd reproduce the entire animal which defeats the purpose as you'd still need to raise the cloned animal. On the topic of vat grown meat, it's currently not economically viable (or maybe even technically possible, I don't know, haven't really researched it) as you would need an entire support system to provide nutrients to the cells and carry away wastes while it's growing. Not to men
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In other words, you'd spend a lot of money and effort re-producing all the things naturally provided by the rest of the cow.
True, but it would remove some of the ethical concerns. If you take a few cells from me, I am not dead (nor necessarily harmed). If you were to grow that into tissue, then eat it - I am not harmed, and it lacks sentience, so you aren't killing anything, nor causing pain to something that can feel pain.
As a nice side effect, it could be legal to eat many things that otherwise really s
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Do you go have it done again and get a second clone?
And if you do clone again, which one do you clone from? The original or the copy?