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Allergy-Free Kittens Produced

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the nothing-about-these-cats-is-free dept.

An anonymous reader writes "San Diego-based company, Allerca, said that using a technique known as genetic divergence, it has 'bred the world's first hypoallergenic kitten, opening the doors and arms of millions of pet lovers for whom cuddling a cat has, until now, been a curse ... After identifying the genes of kittens with proteins that provide less of a reaction in humans, they selectively bred litters over several generations to end up with an allergy-friendly super cat.' The company says its customers are expected to take delivery of their $4,000 hypoallergenic kittens in early 2007."

3 of 276 comments (clear)

  1. Re:slashvertizement... by kfg · · Score: 5, Informative

    Scientific Doubts

    Denver Business Journal: Law Suit

    KFG

  2. Re:stop playing God. by RyoShin · · Score: 5, Informative
    From reading the article, it looks like they didn't do any genetic modification. Instead, they used genetic testing, and did selective breeding based on that testing to get a cat without the protein.
    Allerca announced their plans three years ago, and started collecting deposits from allergic cat fans, but have now decided that their plans to use RNA interference were taking a back seat to a more traditional breeding approach, albeit one that uses genetic testing to select individuals that express low levels of FEL D1.
    A link in that quote goes to a NewScientist.com article, which appears to have more details:
    A California company has turned to conventional breeding to deliver the non-allergenic kittens it promised two years ago.
  3. Re:Man, I hate cats by B3ryllium · · Score: 5, Informative

    You know, there's already a (possibly) hypoallergenic breed of cat from some russian genetic line ... they're cute, too.