News that BoyaLife, a £20m company, is being created outside Beijing to develop mass cloning of animals (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/24/worlds-largest-animal-cloning-factory-can-save-species-says-chinese-founder. The prime intention seems to be to clone cows to fuel a Chinese demand for beef but it is claimed that the company could also clone a) winning race-horses; b) effective sniffer dogs and c) even 'endangered' species (such as the Giant panda). I suspect that anything for which there is a demand will be cloned (pets and athletes?). I am not certain whether cloning cows is a great idea in terms of concerns about global warming (cattle are major generators of 'greenhouse gases') and some endangered species (e.g. elephant, rhinoceros and tiger) might be better helped by reducing their use in ivory carving and Chinese medicine. It does suggest that cloning is moving to a factory-style level of activity, making it very difficult to regulate.
1 comment:
I wonder If you can clone common sense?
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