Clone Dogs (DRAFT)

Advances in technology and science amaze me constantly. The Internet alone has revolutionized work and play for me, enabling me to find virtually any article or photo I could ever think of or need. Science also astounds me everyday with the way it can change people’s lives for the better. I would’ve never thought it was possible to create flood resistant rice or disease resistant corn to help withstand a disaster or assist with a famine. However sometimes science can undergo certain endeavors purely focused on profitability without regard to ethics. One such endeavor is the cloning of a deceased or terminally ill dog. The risks and complications to clone a dog far outweigh the benefit of replacing the precious member of your family.

Most of us have had pets at one time or another. Chances are we have become extremely emotionally attached to these same pets to the point where some people even regard them as their children. Whether or not a dog carries the same emotional attachment as a child is an argument for another day, or another blog post. The fact is many people are invested emotionally in a dog in the very same way people are invested in their children and can be equally as devastated when their beloved Fido passes away. When my childhood dog died, I missed several days of school and for months everything reminded me of her. I would have done anything to bring her back at the time, perhaps even had her cloned, but not anymore.

There are many reasons why I am against the cloning of a dog for profit but it mainly involves the actual process to produce a genetic clone. To clone a dog, a cell with genetic material from a parent (dog to be cloned) is implanted into an egg and grown in a surrogate mother. Cloning companies are exploiting the grief of these dog owners to get them to pay between $50,000 to $150,000 to have their dog cloned without ever educating them to the process. According to a Humane Society report about pet cloning attempts published in scientific journals, “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.” This doesn’t even take into account the affects and toll on the surrogate dog mother who may have multiple aborted fetuses before a successful birth. Success rates of less than four tenths of one percent do not justify the pain and suffering involved in this invasive procedure.

Another issue is whether the resulting cloned dog will be the same as the dog it was cloned from. I think, just like with human twins, cloned dogs are more than just a collection of genetic instructions. They are individuals whose personalities are shaped by their life experiences, interactions and relationships with their environment. I found an interesting statement from Dr. Robert Lanza, Chief Scientific Officer at Advanced Cell Technology, and a cloning expert, “We cloned a herd of cattle several years ago--they were all cloned from a single individual. The cloned animals exhibit the full spectrum of behavioral traits, from curious and inquisitive to timid and shy. There's no doubt about it: each cloned animal has its own unique, individual personality.” Through their grief many dog owners don’t realize they will not get an exact replica of their dog.

Lou Hawthorne of the biotech cloning company BioArts had his mother’s dog Missy cloned by his company in South Korea. The cloning produced four puppies, one he kept, another he gave to his mother and two he gave to friends. He loves the way the dogs turned out and takes every chance to show how much they are like the original Missy. His mother Joan quoted in a New York Times article and the owner of the original Missy is not so sure, “They’re not at all alike. In looks, they are a little bit, of course. But, I mean, the puppy is delicate and aggressive. Missy was robust and completely calm.” In fact she doesn’t even want the clone her son made because she adopted a shelter animal after Missy died stating, “I already have a dog - a real dog.”

The fact is there are many other “real dogs” out there that need good homes. I emailed Jordan Crump, Media Relations Director with the Humane Society of America, to get an idea just how many dogs are in need of a home. She told me that approximately 7-8 million dogs were rescued and sheltered by the various state humane societies across the United States last year. Four million of these dogs were euthanized due to lack of adoptable homes and overcrowding. That’s four million Missy’s that needed a loving caring home but couldn’t find one.