CGS-authored
(05-21) 15:16 PDT San Francisco (AP) -
A Northern California biotech company announced Wednesday that it will clone the dogs of the five highest bidders in a series of online auctions. Some ethicists condemned the offer, fearing it could lead to human clones.
Opening bids start at $100,000 for the service being offered by Mill Valley-based BioArts International.
BioArts chief executive Lou Hawthorne formerly ran Genetic Savings & Clone, which offered to clone pet cats for $50,000 but folded in 2006 because few were willing to pay so much.
But Hawthorne said in a phone interview that another service his old company provided - the storage of pet DNA for future possible clones - showed him the market for dog clones was strong.
"The average dog owner has a different relationship with his dog than the average cat owner," Hawthorne said. "The level of intensity on the dog side just dwarfed what we saw on the cat side."
To conduct the clonings, BioArts has partnered with a South Korean research team that recently created three clones of Hawthorne's family dog...
A Northern California biotech company announced Wednesday that it will clone the dogs of the five highest bidders in a series of online auctions. Some ethicists condemned the offer, fearing it could lead to human clones.
Opening bids start at $100,000 for the service being offered by Mill Valley-based BioArts International.
BioArts chief executive Lou Hawthorne formerly ran Genetic Savings & Clone, which offered to clone pet cats for $50,000 but folded in 2006 because few were willing to pay so much.
But Hawthorne said in a phone interview that another service his old company provided - the storage of pet DNA for future possible clones - showed him the market for dog clones was strong.
"The average dog owner has a different relationship with his dog than the average cat owner," Hawthorne said. "The level of intensity on the dog side just dwarfed what we saw on the cat side."
To conduct the clonings, BioArts has partnered with a South Korean research team that recently created three clones of Hawthorne's family dog...