NewsToBeRead
08-06-2008, 08:20 PM
http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_10112596?source=rss
Bereaved dog owner ecstatic over clones
WOMAN PAYS $50,000 FOR FIRST COMMERCIAL CANINE REPLICATION
By Hyung-Jin Kim
Associated Press
SEOUL, South Korea - Bernann McKinney says her beloved pit bull "Booger"
saved her life when another dog attacked her, then learned to push her
wheelchair while she recovered from a severe hand injury and nerve damage.
He died in 2006, but now he's back - at least in clone form, after the birth
last week of puppies replicated by a South Korean company.
"Yes, I know you! You know me too!" McKinney cried joyfully Tuesday, hugging
the puppy clones as they slept with one of their two surrogate mothers, both
Korean mixed breed dogs, in a Seoul laboratory. "It's a miracle."
The five clones were created by Seoul-based RNL Bio in cooperation with a
team of Seoul National University scientists who in 2005 created the world's
first cloned dog, a male Afghan hound named Snuppy.
It is headed by Lee Byeong-chun, a former colleague of disgraced scientist
Hwang Woo-suk, whose purported breakthroughs in stem cell research were
revealed as fake. Independent tests, however, proved the team's dog cloning
was genuine.
Lee's team has since cloned some 30 dogs and five wolves, but claims
Booger's clones, for which McKinney paid $50,000, are the first successful
commercial cloning of a canine.
The procedure, which costs up to $150,000, is drawing criticism from animal
rights groups which oppose cloning pets. They say it can lead to malformed
offspring and exploitation of surrogates and egg donors, as well as
unfounded claims that the new animal is an exact copy of the original.
"It's fraught with animal welfare concerns and it does not bring back a
loved one," said Martin Stephens, vice president for animal research issues
at the Humane Society of the United States, based in Washington.
"A dead animal's DNA does not guarantee the offspring will be identical to
the deceased. It takes more than just genes to create an animal," said
Stephens, who is a biologist.
He said the cloning process also subjects hundreds of dogs and cats to
invasive procedures as egg donors and surrogates. According to a report
released by the Humane Society in May, 3,656 cloned embryos, 319 egg donors
and 214 surrogates were used to produce just five cloned dogs and 11 cloned
cats who were able to survive 30 days past birth.
There are millions of homeless dogs and cats in the United States, Stephens
said, and "we don't need new sources to compete with animal shelters and
reputable breeders."
McKinney, 57, a screenwriter who taught drama at U.S. universities,
contacted Lee after her dog died of cancer in April 2006. "I believe that
Booger was an angel that God rented out to me for short period of time," she
said. "And he knew I would be lost without him, so he sent me some more. He
sent me five more mini-Boogers."
She said she has named the clones Booger McKinney, Booger Lee, Booger Ra,
Booger Hong and Booger Park, after herself and the South Korean scientists
who achieved the cloning.
Bereaved dog owner ecstatic over clones
WOMAN PAYS $50,000 FOR FIRST COMMERCIAL CANINE REPLICATION
By Hyung-Jin Kim
Associated Press
SEOUL, South Korea - Bernann McKinney says her beloved pit bull "Booger"
saved her life when another dog attacked her, then learned to push her
wheelchair while she recovered from a severe hand injury and nerve damage.
He died in 2006, but now he's back - at least in clone form, after the birth
last week of puppies replicated by a South Korean company.
"Yes, I know you! You know me too!" McKinney cried joyfully Tuesday, hugging
the puppy clones as they slept with one of their two surrogate mothers, both
Korean mixed breed dogs, in a Seoul laboratory. "It's a miracle."
The five clones were created by Seoul-based RNL Bio in cooperation with a
team of Seoul National University scientists who in 2005 created the world's
first cloned dog, a male Afghan hound named Snuppy.
It is headed by Lee Byeong-chun, a former colleague of disgraced scientist
Hwang Woo-suk, whose purported breakthroughs in stem cell research were
revealed as fake. Independent tests, however, proved the team's dog cloning
was genuine.
Lee's team has since cloned some 30 dogs and five wolves, but claims
Booger's clones, for which McKinney paid $50,000, are the first successful
commercial cloning of a canine.
The procedure, which costs up to $150,000, is drawing criticism from animal
rights groups which oppose cloning pets. They say it can lead to malformed
offspring and exploitation of surrogates and egg donors, as well as
unfounded claims that the new animal is an exact copy of the original.
"It's fraught with animal welfare concerns and it does not bring back a
loved one," said Martin Stephens, vice president for animal research issues
at the Humane Society of the United States, based in Washington.
"A dead animal's DNA does not guarantee the offspring will be identical to
the deceased. It takes more than just genes to create an animal," said
Stephens, who is a biologist.
He said the cloning process also subjects hundreds of dogs and cats to
invasive procedures as egg donors and surrogates. According to a report
released by the Humane Society in May, 3,656 cloned embryos, 319 egg donors
and 214 surrogates were used to produce just five cloned dogs and 11 cloned
cats who were able to survive 30 days past birth.
There are millions of homeless dogs and cats in the United States, Stephens
said, and "we don't need new sources to compete with animal shelters and
reputable breeders."
McKinney, 57, a screenwriter who taught drama at U.S. universities,
contacted Lee after her dog died of cancer in April 2006. "I believe that
Booger was an angel that God rented out to me for short period of time," she
said. "And he knew I would be lost without him, so he sent me some more. He
sent me five more mini-Boogers."
She said she has named the clones Booger McKinney, Booger Lee, Booger Ra,
Booger Hong and Booger Park, after herself and the South Korean scientists
who achieved the cloning.