Sharon Kim Kim is a second-year biology
student. Send your rhyme or reason to skim@media.ucla.edu. Click Here
for more articles by Sharon Kim
Remember when your mother used to tell you at the dinner table
“There are starving people in China!” in order to get
you to finish your meatloaf?
Well, let me just say: There are cats and dogs being put to
sleep everyday ““ at your local animal shelter.
Scientists at A&M University in Texas recently announced
they had successfully cloned a cat, producing a calico kitten,
nicknamed “Cc” for “carbon copy,” that
even the anti-cloning-ethics-obsessed must have cooed over.
This little kitten represents, in fact, a great step, not only
in the development of technology that will one day lead to the
cloning of higher mammals, but also for our perception of
cloning.
Before Cc, animals used for cloning were boring, distant farm
animals, like sheep, goats and pigs. Consequently, nobody could
appreciate the significance of a cloned animal or look beyond what
seems like sterile, alien technology.
Then this kitty comes along, reminding people that maybe cloned
animals are not the freaks of nature they had imagined.
It is a shame, however, that this leap in technology has gotten
people more concerned about whether they will one day be able to
clone their Fidos and Fluffys instead of its impact on stem cell
research, for example.
Of course, this sentiment is what got this important research
started in the first place. The scientists responsible for Cc
were funded by a geriatric financier who envisioned someday he
would charge pet owners to clone their animals. Indeed, if not for
the humble beginnings of a desire to increase personal income on
the part of the financier ““ or maybe the desire had something
to do with his own age ““ the research would have had to wait
until another patron came along.
I’m sure the scientists must be in on it too. They want to
bring the concept of cloning a bit closer to home so average
Americans won’t think of it so much as an Island of Dr.
Moreau abomination.
But wasting the technology, research and money on something so
frivolous as cloning some foolish people’s pets is
preposterous.
So before you start saving that $20,000 to clone Spot ““
although the cost is expected to eventually go down to about $2,000
““ consider all the things that make cloning pets stupid.
There are literally millions of unwanted cats and dogs being put
to sleep. Even if America is such a capitalistic brouhaha society,
doesn’t it seem just a little terrible to spend thousands of
dollars to clone your dead dog when there are other dogs lined up
to die because no one wants to take them home?
No, I’m not trying to put anyone on a guilt trip. This is
not like the proverbial starving people in Third World countries.
It’s about common sense and knowing when something is just
too stupid.
But let’s say you do get your dog cloned. I’ve got
news for you: the clone is not going to be the same dog your dead
one was. Sure, it will be genetically identical, but unless
you’re a geneticist, you won’t be able to appreciate
this.
Although your cloned pet has the same genes as your dead one, it
will probably look different because cloning produces a twin, not
an exact duplicate. And unfortunately, the cloned dog won’t
pop out of its surrogate mother and immediately recognize you as
your dead dog once did, because, as memory isn’t transferred,
it will be just like any other newborn puppy.
In short, there is no possible rationale for cloning pets.
It’s great that the scientists who cloned Cc got the
financial backing in the first place to achieve this feline marvel,
whether or not the money came from the original intention to profit
off pet owners. After all, necessity is the mother of invention, as
they say, and these days, it seems money is the necessity.
However, now that this technology has been developed, instead of
wasting our time and money with rubbish pet cloning, we need to
focus on the next important steps, like how this technology will
lead to new organ cloning so that one day, we can replace cancerous
livers and save some lives.