World's first cloned cat has kittens

[Sophist]

Clicky clicky

[kittycats_delight]

And once again we have idiots playing God.

I don't even want to get into all the things I could say about this.

[Catty1]

Great....deliberately producing kittens in the name of science when so many are put to sleep due to lack of homes.

Not the babies' fault - they are cute.

But some stoopid humans....sheesh!

[moosmom]

Great....deliberately producing kittens in the name of science when so many are put to sleep due to lack of homes

And once again we have idiots playing God.

I don't even want to get into all the things I could say about this

I echo your thoughts, girls.

Although they are cute and it's not their fault, more shelter kitties will die because frenzied people wanting a "cloned" kitten will stand in line just for the bragging rights. Makes me ill.

[Miss Z]

What I want to know is : Why the hell are these scientists messing around cloning cats, which proves nothing other than it is do-able, rather than trying to put cloning to good use, eg. using it to rescue a few species from the brink of extinction? It mentioned the African cats in the report so I see it as a little bit of a waste of time to be cloning and then breeding from cloned domestic kitties.

[Lady's Human]

The successful reproduction from a clone proves that there was no genetic damage to the cat when they cloned her.

[Pembroke_Corgi]

The successful reproduction from a clone proves that there was no genetic damage to the cat when they cloned her.

Yes, exactly.

I think cloning is a wonderful area of research...we are already benefiting from genetically modified foods. The hope is that one day, we can clone tissues and organs to save lives and provide transplants to people who need them. I think this page is a good resource about cloning: Cloning fact sheet

[Argranade]

Know what,

I'm sick and tired of this so all I'm going to say is,

The kittens are so cute & the humans are nuts once again,

Cross breeding, cloning ect .. people just keep doing it and I'm tired of telling and thinking it's wrong because no matter what it will keep happening unless God grabs those weird people and sticks them on planet ''No Brains'' forever .. and of course NO animals would be on that planet for them to hunt or study on.

[Giselle]

The successful reproduction from a clone proves that there was no genetic damage to the cat when they cloned her.

Not necessarily. Dolly gave birth to six lambs in her lifetime, but she was euthanised around 6 years of age due to an irreversible infection in her lungs. At age 5, she had shown abnormal symptoms of aging and became arthritic and overweight. It's worthy to note that most sheep don't show signs of aging until about 10 years of age. Successful reproduction only proves that they are capable of reproducing. But it doesn't prove their overall genetic health and/or longevity.

ETA: Oh yeah and the cat giving birth to kittens thing... If this eventually leads scientists to successful human therapeutic cloning, then I say kudos to the cloned cat. If not, stop playing God for goodness sakes!

[#1Wolflover]

I'm not exactly sure why people want to clone animals, I mean whats the purpose? And why clone when you can go to a local sheltor and adopt a perfectly good kitten?

[#1Wolflover]

Yes, exactly.

I think cloning is a wonderful area of research...we are already benefiting from genetically modified foods. The hope is that one day, we can clone tissues and organs to save lives and provide transplants to people who need them. I think this page is a good resource about cloning: Cloning fact sheet

yeah bones and tissues are body parts, why clone an animal though whats that gonna save? instead it will allow animals in sheltors to be put down because everyone wants theres cloned after it dies.

[Lady's Human]

It was a scientific experiment, not "Hey, let's clone a cat for the hell of it!"

Cloning research could lead to growing individual organs, etc. for people who need transplants This has nothing to do with producing pets, it is for research.

Dolly was a first, and there were problems that they discovered after they cloned her which advanced the science. Successful reproduction, however is a sign that other issues aside, it was a success. (they cloned a 6 year old sheep, and surprise!, they got a lamb with 6 year old genes)

[Twisterdog]

It was a scientific experiment, not "Hey, let's clone a cat for the hell of it!"

Cloning research could lead to growing individual organs, etc. for people who need transplants This has nothing to do with producing pets, it is for research.

Dolly was a first, and there were problems that they discovered after they cloned her which advanced the science. Successful reproduction, however is a sign that other issues aside, it was a success. (they cloned a 6 year old sheep, and surprise!, they got a lamb with 6 year old genes)

Agreed.

The scientists are going to keep these kittens for their natural life and monitor their health very closely. I can assure they will not be sold to the general public, just to make a profit. Scientific research and advances take time, trial and error. Of course Dolly the sheep had problems ... it was the first attempt. I doubt the first attempt at a motorized vehicle ran like a Corvette.

There are certainly potential moral and ethical problems with cloning. Just as there are moral and ethical potentially present in EVERY new discovery and advance. I personally think that cloning has the potential to eliminate so many diseases and so much suffering in the world, that it is certainly worth pursuing. If your parent or your child or your spouse or you had terminal cancer or another fatal disease, and the only hope of survival was a cloned liver or heart or bladder, would you not want it to be available?

With all the backyard breeders, unaltered strays, puppy mills, etc. in the world ... one cloned cats' kittens, which will be cared for and monitored their entire lives, is not even a single water molecule on the very tip of the iceberg.

[smokey the elder]

These kittens are much too valuable to be pets! They will probably be the best cared for cats on the planet. Cloning is highly charged ethically for good reason. It's one of those extreme forms of technology (think nuclear power!) that can be used for great good or evil. Human beings have to use their heads about this stuff.

[Vela]

If your parent or your child or your spouse or you had terminal cancer or another fatal disease, and the only hope of survival was a cloned liver or heart or bladder, would you not want it to be available?

That depends, would the organ be cloned inside a clone of that ill person, or cloned in and of itself without life being created to sustain it? IF said part came from a clone of a person, such as a whole cloned person, then my answer is no, I wouldn't want it, because I don't beleive we have the right to create a whole life and snuff it out for our own selfish needs. IF the parts could be cloned individually, without creating a whole other life to sustain it, then I wouldn't have an issue with using it.