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Hypo-Allergenic Cats Now Available for Pre-Order
humuhumunukunukuapu' writes "Allerca Inc is now taking reservations for genetically engineered hypo-allergenic cats, which it calls 'lifestyle pets'... and apparently they are just the beginning... Read the press release here... and you can take delivery of a cuddy non-sinus bothering bundle of joy for just $3500. 'The hypoallergenic cats produced by ALLERCA will allow consumers to enjoy the love and companionship of a pet without the cost, inconvenience, risk, and limited effectiveness of current allergy treatments. Clients will take delivery of the first ALLERCA kittens in 2007. The hypoallergenic cat is the first of a planned series of lifestyle pets that ALLERCA will develop over the next few years.' Meow!"
From the site:
Priced at $3,500, the cost of an ALLERCA kitten is similar or less than some of the more exotic cat breeds available today.
Ummhh.. yeah.. But, it's a bit more than the "free kittens" we all see signs for throughout our home towns.
From the first hit on Google searching for cat gestation:
"Cats generally have pregnancies lasting from 58 to 65 days".
So the fact that the first one won't "ship" until 2007 is a bad sign. Anybody sending these folks money now, *please* contact me for a great deal on a bridge.
"that's not encryption - it's a new perl script that I'm working on..." - from some Matrix parody
Personally, I think this borders on cruelty, what with the guy repeatedly throwing the cat against the wall. Or was I the only one who noticed how fat the cat's tail looked?
Note that all the research, work, effort, and awareness programs directed at both cancer and allergies focus on drugs to control the conditions rather than prevention of the condition. The reason for this becomes apparent when you note that the majority of the funding for the cancer and allergy research comes from polluters.
The obvious step would be to reduce pollution, but somehow that doesn't get mentioned in any cancer or allergy literature. I wonder why...
"Mission Accomplished" -- George W. Bush May 1, 2003
I've heard this before, and chuckled. But after hearing co-workers say things like "nah, I can't go out for drinks: I need to go home and let the dog out," and watching people walk behind a dog and pick up its shit off the ground, I wonder sometimes, which animal really has the staff?
'Fraid not. Comparing the amount of the population in a city with relatively low pollution like, say, Stockholm (Sweden), with a relatively dirty one, say, Krakow (Poland), you'd expect the number of allergies to be far higher in the more polluted city. This turns out not true. Allergies are much more common in the modern "Western world" than in, for instance, the old "East block".
Good point. Another interesting datapoint is the much lower rate of allergies in crowded, dirty Asian cities (these cities have decent healthcare, so it's not like allergies are underreported). Also, Asians (at least South Asians) seem to have much lower rates of nut allergies, hayfever allergies, etc.
I just think there's a lot we don't know here...
I'd love to see some research on the correlation between 'cleaner societies' and immune systems development.
Go somewhere random