Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/story/2006/10/11/costly-copy-cats-cause-pet-cloning-company-to-close/
In my opinion this is a misleading title and
it confuses readers and public about the issue of cloning. In reality,
scientists have been struggling to increase the percentage of the cloning
efficiency to generate living offspring in laboratory and farm animals for
decades until now. On the contrary, this news article, which was published 8
years ago, was presenting the topic as if there was no issue with the
efficiency of cloning and claiming the main reason to stop the business was the
less demand for their product. Interestingly, they are talking about pets
cloning in which cloning and embryo transfer were not studied and investigated
enough like laboratory and farm animals. Using controversial science and weird
topics to create interesting news and generating publicity is not improving public
knowledge. In fact, this practice shallows the public awareness about current
issues in science. Actually, this type of news creates more confusion for
public readers and makes them assume and predict things that are not realistic
or practical. Cloning, as an example here, is still in its early stages and
need more research and investigation to improve its quality and yet you see
some people talking about making a business of cloning. In addition, even if
the cloning were successful, the main goal is for biomedical research to study
disease or organ transplantation not to clone pets for entertainment.
Here is some reference for some
review papers discussing the issue with cloning, practical usage, and how to
improve. They are scientific articles and not intended for common readers, but
can help to get a general idea about the current cloning efficiency
rate and possible applications.
Thuan NV, Kishigami S, Wakayama T., 2010. How to improve the success
rate of mouse cloning technology. J Reprod Dev.
Feb;56(1):20-30.
Niemann H1, Lucas-Hahn A. 2012.
Somatic cell nuclear transfer cloning: practical applications and current
legislation. Reprod Domest Anim.Aug;47 Suppl 5:2-10.
Samiec M1, Skrzyszowska M. 2011.
Transgenic mammalian species, generated by somatic cell cloning,
in biomedicine, biopharmaceutical industry and human
nutrition/dietetics--recent achievements. Pol J Vet Sci. ;14(2):317-28.
Sameer,
What an interesting story. I think I remember hearing something about that a while back. I think articles like that definitely remind us sci-fi lovers of all the classics where things go way wrong and jars of "failures" line the walls. Does anyone remember that scene in Aliens? Anyway, it is unfortunate that biased news stations put so much effort into finding these obscure stories. It is almost as if they intend on distracting the public from learning about the numerous biomedical benefits of cloning. Sadly, Fox News is no stranger to controversy and has been accused of media bias too many times to count.
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