Scientists Can Clone Pets, and Shouldn't

The Genetic Savings and Clone (GSC), of Sausalito, California, is setting itself up in the business of cloning pets. For a mere $50,000, five people with more money than scientific understanding have signed up to have their cats cloned. The idea is a bad one on three levels at least: a clone is not a perfect copy, there are too many domesticated animals without human companions, and GSC has the scientific capability now to clone a house cat but not the far superior dog.

The well-intentioned people at GSC have created two cats, named Tabouli and Baba Ganoush, from a DNA donor mother named Tahini. Fans of Middle Eastern cuisine will appreciate the names, but there is little else to love here. That is not to say that the kittens are any less delightful than other kittens, but they are almost certain to grow up into aloof and unlikable things, just like naturally produced felines. But Tabouli and Baba Ganoush are not going to act just like Tahini -- their environmental upbringing is different. The genetic predispositions are the same, but those are only predispositions. For $50,000, the future clients of GSC are getting a different cat from the original, pure and simple.

That wouldn't be so bad if there were a shortage of cats (although it is difficult to imagine having an insufficient number of cats). But there are thousands of strays who could make perfectly good companions for a fraction of the cost. Indeed, the $50,000 price tag would keep a shelter and adoption program going for a while.

Moreover, there is something that diminishes the pet's personality in trying to replicate the animal. One needn't be a militant animal rights activist to understand that each cat and dog has its own foibles with provide it with uniqueness. One hesitates to use the word "personality" because they are not persons. However, the traits that distinguish one animal's behavior from another's is not far removed from the term. Were a clone a perfect copy, that uniqueness would be lost and the relationship lessened.

This is not to say that cloning is wrong. Indeed, from a scientific perspective, the cloning of cats and dogs may allow the alleviation of certain genetic diseases in mankind's symbiotes. What is wrong is trying to recreate Fluffy or Spot simply because one can. Ethics is often a case of motive rather than action -- in this case, that is clearly so.


© Copyright 2004 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.


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