Lifestyle / Gadgets

Get your dog a $100,000 clone

BioArts International will next month hold an online auction to give five wealthy pet owners the opportunity to have their dogs cloned. The successful bidders will be able to make a genetically-identical copy of an existing pet – or create a new puppy from the frozen tissue of a long-dead pet. Bidding is expected to […]

May 24, 2008 | By Luxuo

BioArts International will next month hold an online auction to give five wealthy pet owners the opportunity to have their dogs cloned.

The successful bidders will be able to make a genetically-identical copy of an existing pet – or create a new puppy from the frozen tissue of a long-dead pet. Bidding is expected to begin at more than $100,000.

While pet cloning may appear little more than a bizarre and morbid extravagance for the super-rich, it comes at a high price.

Cloning is still a hit-and-miss procedure and for almost every success comes a stream of miscarriages, stillbirths and premature deaths.

Animal welfare campaigners and ethical experts have condemned the move, accusing BioArts – the company offering the service – of exploiting owners’ fears over losing a pet.

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But Lou Hawthorne, head of BioArts, believes there will be no shortage of those willing to pay for the chance to copy a beloved dog.

“It could easily end up being price comparable to a luxury car, or a vacation house,’ he said. ‘It’s not going to be cheap. But then the process isn’t cheap.” Via dailymail / AP


 
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