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Are Cloned Puppies Worth the Risks?
Critics say there may be many failures for every high-profile success
By Rob Quinn
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Posted Aug 20, 08 2:50 AM CDT
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(Newser)
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Canine cloning looks set to become big business but critics warn that deformed and diseased failures could outnumber the tail-wagging successes, Wired reports. Cloning fails far more often than it succeeds, and dogs are notoriously hard to clone. A Humane Society report earlier this year charged that "serious animal suffering and disreputable activities" lurk behind pet cloning.
Industry spokesmen deny the accusations and say the same factors that make dogs tricky to clone result in healthy offspring when the procedure does work. Only 40 cloned dogs have ever been produced, all of them since 2005. Experts say it's still to early to tell how successful the procedure will be or whether the clones will be more prone to disease later in life.