Dog cloned

According to the journal Nature, the Korean team led by Professor Woo Suk Hwang transplanted more than 1,000 embryos into 123 bitches. The cells were taken from the ear of a three-year-old Afghan hound called Tai and were then placed in an unfertilised egg from a female labrador. The egg was treated with electric current to begin its transformation to an embryo before it was put back in the labrador's womb.

The result was just three pregnancies. One miscarried and another died from pneumonia after three weeks. And now Snuppy is 14 weeks old which is the world's first cloned dog.

It’s expected that news of Snuppy's birth bring a flood of inquiries from dog-lovers who want to clone their pets. However, Professor Woo says cloning pets is not the point of his research. He said: "Our goal is to find cures for debilitating diseases and illnesses."

Being a scientist, he/she should have ethical awareness and be considerate of the research impact towards human being as a whole rather just a profit earning.

- The Sun/20Aug05 -