Could cloned animals be heading to our dinner plate?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6941059.stm
Since the birth of Dolly the sheep 11 years ago, cloning technologies for animals have been getting better and better.
But are we ready to clone our pets or eat meat or other products from cloned livestock or their offspring? Well, the BBC Radio 4 series Peas in a Pod has taken a look at the current state of animal cloning and where it might be heading.
Animals are already being cloned commercially.
It's on a small scale and mostly for producing copies of individual animals of very high value - whether emotional or commercial.
But a ruling by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) at the end of this year could change that.
If the ruling, as expected, allows animal products from clones and their offspring to enter the human food chain then agricultural cloning is set to take off.
Growing clientele
Finding out exactly who is doing what and where in the world of cloning is not easy.
The sensitive nature of the science and the extreme ethical views of some have made cloning, like genetic engineering, a highly controversial technology.
While Scotland, once home to Dolly the sheep, may once have been the heart of cloning science, it's now clear that the centre of activity has moved to Texas where a combination of academic and commercial laboratories are providing a service for a growing number of clients.
ViaGen, a commercial cloning company in Austin, Texas, is now charging $15,000 (£7,500) to clone a bull and $3,000 (£1,500) for a pig.
Its customers are the owners of elite breeding stock - not animals for slaughter - and the company believes it has now improved the cloning technology to a point that makes it commercially viable for agricultural animals.
Blake Russell, vice president of sales and business development at the company, said: "The technology is currently in a rapid state of development and will meet the needs of large agricultural numbers around the world very, very soon."
Another commercial use of cloning being pioneered at Texas A and M University is cloning endangered and domestic animals.
They created the first cloned domestic cat, Copy Cat or CC, and the first successful cloning of a white-tailed deer.
Click link up top to view more of this article.
