March 24, 2024

A second life for man’s best friend?

Hwang teams up with California businessman to clone dogs

A
California businessman has teamed up with disgraced Korean stem cell scientist
Hwang Woo-suk to create a dog-cloning project called
“Best Friends Again”. “I know the association with Dr Hwang is going to be
controversial,” said Lou Hawthorne, the CEO of a company called BioArts. “Our main concern is simply he’s the best when it
comes to dog cloning and for that reason it behooves us to work with him.” Dr
Hwang’s work in creating human embryonic stem cells was found to be fraudulent
in 2004, but he did manage to clone the first dog, Snuppy.

BioArts
plans to run several internet auctions in June to clone five dogs with
money-back guarantees. Bidding is supposed to start at US$100,000. The company
will guarantee the clone’s health for one year. ~
New York Times, May 21