Genetic Savings and Clone
Dec. 23rd, 2004 14:15![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
piranhai am not kidding you -- that is the company's name -- has delivered the first cloned pet to a woman in texas who was so bereft by the death of her cat that she shelled out U$50,000 for the clone.
"It's morally problematic and a little reprehensible," said David Magnus, co-director of the Center for Biomedical Ethics at Stanford University. "For $50,000, she could have provided homes for a lot of strays."
oh, i dunno -- is it also morally problematic and a little reprehensible if people with fertility problems don't just adopt an already-born child instead of going to extreme measures to get one of their own?
of course i think that in the case of cloning a lot of people have ignorant ideas about just how much a cloned pet will resemble the original; ignoring the impact of environmental factors both before and after birth. though i imagine it'll be interesting to research, and will likely tell us more regarding nature vs nurture questions. do we need more "feline production systems"? no, obviously not, but fancy breeders produce new cats too instead of encouraging people to adopt strays. *shrug*. good luck trying to change people's desires for what they consider "better".
"It's morally problematic and a little reprehensible," said David Magnus, co-director of the Center for Biomedical Ethics at Stanford University. "For $50,000, she could have provided homes for a lot of strays."
oh, i dunno -- is it also morally problematic and a little reprehensible if people with fertility problems don't just adopt an already-born child instead of going to extreme measures to get one of their own?
of course i think that in the case of cloning a lot of people have ignorant ideas about just how much a cloned pet will resemble the original; ignoring the impact of environmental factors both before and after birth. though i imagine it'll be interesting to research, and will likely tell us more regarding nature vs nurture questions. do we need more "feline production systems"? no, obviously not, but fancy breeders produce new cats too instead of encouraging people to adopt strays. *shrug*. good luck trying to change people's desires for what they consider "better".