"Is creating a life destined for illness and pain, worth it?"; or so is the question for many cloning projects involving animals. Sinogene (a Beijing based biotech company) has announced the first dog cloned from a gene-edited donor (a Beagle name Apple). Apple was originally gene-edited so that he would have problems with cholesterol regulation - the leading cause of Atherosclerosis. And now, there are three identical clones to him (Longlong, Xixi, and Nuonuo).
The puppies were cloned for the purpose of medical research, and thus, they will spend their entire lives in a small room, and likely suffering from illness. These scientists argue though that their work will save human lives, but whether this is true or not may not be clear for many years to come. If it's worth it, may have an answer before then.
- Elizabeth (Liz) Tapanes
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