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| Physical abnormalities and serious health problems are not uncommon among cloned offspring. © iStock.com |
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The company that started the world's first commercial dog cloning service announced that it has stopped cloning dogs in part due to serious animal welfare and ethical concerns.
California-based BioArts International announced on September 10 that it would discontinue its "Best Friends Again" program, citing physical abnormalities in cloned dogs and the excess puppies produced by cloning as two of the reasons for the decision.
BioArts claims to hold the only worldwide rights to clone dogs, cats and endangered species.
Physical Abnormalities
In a statement posted on the company’s website, CEO Lou Hawthorne cited multiple examples of “physical abnormalities that render [the dogs] undeliverable”, including a cloned puppy whose black spots were greenish-yellow and a clone of a male dog who was born female.
Other cloned dogs were born with skeletal malformations that Hawthorne characterized as “generally not crippling though sometimes serious and always worrisome.”
“These problems are all the more worrisome given that cloning is supposedly a mature technology in general … and dog cloning in particular is supposedly the most advanced application of cloning”, Hawthorne wrote.
Hawthorne goes on to suggest that many of these deformities are likely “inherent with the technology” of cloning. He concludes,” cloning is still an experimental technology and consumers would be well-advised to proceed cautiously.”
Unwanted Dogs
In addition to the physical abnormalities afflicting cloned dogs, Hawthorne cited excess puppies resulting from the unpredictable timing of the births as another problem.
“Multiple births of cloned dogs are both common and unwelcome, given that most clients only want one or two clones at most. What are we supposed to do with the rest?," he wrote.
The Future of Pet Cloning
Hawthorne’s statements echo the findings of a 2008 report issued by The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and the American Anti-Vivisection Society (AAVS), which characterized cloning as an irresponsible and inhumane experimental technology that causes suffering and harm to cloned offspring and their surrogate parents.
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| Pet cloning services prey on animal lovers in an attempt to reincarnate a deceased pet. © iStock.com |
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The HSUS/AAVS report also emphasized public opposition to animal cloning as determined by opinion pools. Indeed, Hawthorne noted that when BioArts held a much-publicized contest to give away a free cloned dog, they received only 237 entries.
“The HSUS is delighted that the sole company in the US that was selling dog clones has shut its doors,” says Kathleen Conlee of The HSUS. “This development has validated our concerns regarding the welfare of animals used in the cloning process and also reinforces the public’s distaste for dog cloning.”
Although BioArts, formerly Genetic Savings & Clone, is the only company licensed to commercially clone pets, the South Korean biotech company RNL Bio continues to clone pets without a license and plans to open a canine cloning research center that will allegedly produce 1,000 cloned dogs each year.
Clearly, despite the closure of the only U.S.-based vendor of cloned dogs, the fight to end pet cloning isn’t over.
