9/11 hero German Shepherd dog is candidate for cloning
According to reports in the telegraph, a German Shepherd dog that played an integral part in finding survivors from the rubble of the collapsed world trade centre may be cloned. BioArts international, a cloning company based in California stated that the German Shepard called Trakr is the most worthy candidate for cloning.
Trakr helped in identifying the last survivor who was buried under 30 feet of debris. Unfortunately the dog now suffers from a neurological disorder which paralyses the dog’s hind legs. It is assumed that this may be the result of exposure to toxic substances at ground zero. This isn’t the first time that a dog has been cloned. A South Korean company cloned an American resident’s dog for £75,000. This was the discounted price due to it being the first cloned dog. The company is planning on charging £150,000 for the process.
Just to recap on the issue of cloning. Cloning is the process of producing an identical copy of an organism. There are two main methods known as molecular and cellular cloning. Molecular cloning involves capturing a specific DNA sequence and cloning it using vectors, PCR and DNA sequencing. Cellular cloning involves using a single cell, and from this creating a population of genetically identical cells.
Cloning is something which has always been in the media spotlight due to this issue being fraught with numerous ethical issues. But these ethical issues have always been discussed in regards to humans; very rarely does someone put forward ethical statements regarding the cloning of animals. However since dolly the sheep was cloned in 1996 more debate and discussion has occurred in this arena.
The first known cloned animal was a tadpole that was cloned in 1952, since then scientists have managed to clone mice, monkeys, cats and most recently a horse was cloned in 2003. There have been numerous reports of research labs managing to produce cloned human embryos, but these embryos were never allowed to develop or be born. This is due to cloning being illegal in many countries and the issue being fraught with ethical considerations.
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