The Pet Clone Wars

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1878398,00.html

This is a very recent article (Feb. 10. 2009) from Times about fierce competition among Korean biotechnology labs for commercial use of pet cloning. Times editor Jennifer Veale writes about the most recent commercial use of biotechnology.

To summarize, there are two major players in South Korea- RNL BIO, sponsored by Seoul Univeristy and Sooam Biotech Research Foundation, associated with BioArts International in the States.

RNL was the first company to successfully clone dogs after Dolly was cloned in 1996 by Ian Wilmut. Since 2005, RNL has cloned 35 dogs and five wolves while Sooam has cloned 75 dogs.

(image on the right- actual ads on RNL's web site rnl.co.kr)

Although the article gives credit for what Lee, the leader of RNL, has achieved, it is skeptical about its success in the future. It is not only too expansive-$150,000 per dog- but also concerns many ethical issues to become popular among the general public.

It is predicted that the service charge will be much lower in few years, but I'm not sure if many would support the technology which so many oppose.

In fact, people have been exposed to so many negative images of 'cloning'. The recent series of Starwars and the movie The Island only emphasized how dangerous and threatening cloning can be.
Those images are so clear in my mind that I'm not sure if many would love to have anything 'cloned' in their houses. Especially 'pets' which people seek love and comfort from. Pet and clones just don't match.

Cloned pets were interesting subjects, but the most interesting part (for me) of this article is this: other interesting potential uses of cloned pets. Where do we go from here?

Other than cloning the deceased pets of the clients, there are "service dogs" that can be used to "detect cancer and narcotics". For example, there is a top drug-sniffing dog that is actually used in Incheon Airport of South Korea. Or this pet cloning technique can also protect the endangered dog breeds.

However, the future Lee sees from this technique is different. Pointing out the fact that canines share similar diseases patterns with humans, he sees it as the potential medical resource. Lee plans on producing a "transgenic" dog whose DNA would be manipulated by the animal reproduction experts. This dog would give much clearer picture of the role of genes and treatments for the diseases such as diabetes or Alzheimer's disease that are uncurable today.

This is an alternative to human cloning which is under a fierce debate among political, ethical, religious and medical groups. Because human cloning is so controversial and may be banned permantently, this could be a promising field for better understandings of genetics. Of course, this will upset many experts that fight for animal rights, however considering its vast potential uses, it is likely to be supported by majority of the people.
Well, one thing for sure is that it's going to be easier than reaching an agreement over human cloning.

Although this is such a small commercial field, this is business, therfore there still exists a conflict over patents. Sooam and BioArts are accusing RNL BIO of violating licensing agreements. BioArts claim that its Dolly patent covers the dog cloning as well while RNL claims that they are operating under the dog-specific patent, the Snuppy patent.
It's ironic how we see cloning as the technique that is yet to come while two companies are arguing over a patent just like they would do over a normal product on the market.

This provided another perspective on cloning. It provided the most recent products of cloning on the market and the competition among the scientists who reproduce them.

The products discussed in this article were not GM food products but pet dogs- human's best friend. It made me wonder how close we are to clone anything we can imagine.


M. Han