"Buyer beware" is the message of The Humane Society of the United States and the American Anti-Vivisection Society to consumers and pet lovers as dog cloners yesterday announced their plans for an Internet auction. In a new report, Buyers Beware: Pet Cloning Is Not for Pet Lovers, The HSUS and AAVS highlight the animal suffering, questionable claims, shoddy science and dubious background of certain players in the pet cloning scheme.
California-based BioArts International announced that it has successfully cloned dogs and will begin a series of online auctions for the chance to clone five dogs for paying customers, with the bidding starting at $100,000 for the first auction and $180,000 for the final. Those seeking to make money by commercial pet cloning may hail dog cloning as a victory and use stunts such as online auctions to gain attention, but The HSUS and AAVS doubt that the consumers will bite. Pet cloning research is a bizarre scientific endeavor fraught with failures and animal suffering, and more than 80 percent of people polled are opposed to pet cloning
"It is time for would-be pet cloners to be revealed for what they are—hucksters who have been involved in questionable activities, including preying upon people who have developed a strong bond with a beloved pet," says Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The HSUS. "Consumers are often unaware of the suffering endured by animals used for cloning, or don't understand that cloning won't necessarily result in a pet that looks or acts like their deceased companion."
Facts
- The HSUS/AAVS report reveals that more than 99 percent of cloning attempts published in scientific journals fail to produce a healthy animal. In these studies, researchers created 3,656 genetically manipulated embryos and used more than 530 dogs and cats to produce just five cloned dogs and 11 cloned cats surviving beyond 30 days. There were four miscarriages and five deaths within 30 days after birth. Numerous other animals have likely suffered invasive procedures during unreported cloning attempts, including the recent experiments conducted by BioArts International to clone Missy.
- Some pet cloning company investors and executives, including BioArts CEO Lou Hawthorne, who also led the now-defunct Genetic Savings & Clone, Inc., fail to communicate the animal welfare toll taken by cloning ventures. As detailed in the HSUS/AAVS report, these companies have shown a willingness to take advantage of grieving pet owners, charging customers large sums of money to "bank" the tissue of their pets for possible future cloning, while failing to clearly communicate to consumers the reality of cloning: that a cloned animal won't necessarily look or behave like their original pet.
- Two other U.S.-based companies have failed to deliver on pet cloning promises to their customers and have since shut down.
- Shoddy science and accusations of fraud hang over the announced partnership between BioArts International and disgraced researcher Hwang Woo Suk. Hwang, the lead researcher involved in the production of the first cloned dog, has been accused of falsifying information related to his human embryo cloning work. Charged by the South Korean government with embezzlement, fraud and violation of bioethics law in 2006, he was fined and removed from his research post.
The HSUS/AAVS report makes a strong case against pet cloning, and the two animal protection organizations urge the public to reject pet cloning and the accompanying suffering, expense and disappointment.
"No matter how many cute puppy pictures they show, the fact is pet cloning companies, built on the suffering of animals, are about making money," says Tracie Letterman, Executive Director of AAVS. "Anyone who truly loves animals should not be tempted by this technology. It is undisputed that a cloned dog can never be a resurrection of your beloved pet."
The poll results on pet cloning come from a 2004 national survey conducted by Opinion Research Council and commissioned by AAVS. Interviews were conducted by phone among a representative sample of 1,008 adults in private households in the continental U.S. The margin of error at a 95 percent confidence level is plus or minus three percentage points.
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The Humane Society of the United States is the nation's largest animal protection organization — backed by 10.5 million Americans, or one of every 30. For more than a half-century, The HSUS has been fighting for the protection of all animals through advocacy, education and hands-on programs. Celebrating animals and confronting cruelty — On the web at humanesociety.org.
The American Anti-Vivisection Society is the oldest animal advocacy and educational organization in the United States dedicated to ending experiments on animals in research, testing, and education. Founded in Philadelphia in 1883, AAVS pursues its objectives through legal and effective advocacy, education, and support of the development of non-animal alternative methods. — On the web at aavs.org and NoPetCloning.org.
