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Scientists To Open Mass-Cloning Factory in China This Year To Clone Cows, Pets, Humans (express.co.uk)

Posted by msmash on from the partner-that-truly-resonates-with-you dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Scientists in China are planning to open a mass-cloning factory by the end of the year. The ambitious and futuristic facility hopes to be mass-producing one million cows every 12 months by 2020. Not only will it clone cattle, but the factory, which will be located in the northern Chinese port of Tianjin, will also cater to more specific needs by genetically engineering police dogs and thoroughbred race horses. It is part of a $21m plan which is backed by the Boyalife group in collaboration with South Korean company Sooam Biotech Research Foundation.

5 of 201 comments (clear)

  1. April fools... by skaralic · · Score: 3, Informative

    April fools was 4 days ago guys...

    1. Re:April fools... by Aighearach · · Score: 3, Informative

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

      Be more credulous about what China is willing to do, medically.

      This is not some joke or corporate PR to gain attention just for cloned pets. This is about food production. And they will also be doing pets for rich people to fund it. And human tests. They don't have the same ethical restrictions. If they think it will help good people, then whatever harm or sacrifice is required from others is also seen as good.

      They're executing Falun Gong practitioners on demand to provide organs. Human cloning for organ harvest isn't even going to be controversial in China.

  2. Burying the (non-)lead by Daetrin · · Score: 4, Informative

    "Not only will it clone cattle, but the factory, which will be located in the northern Chinese port of Tianjin, will also cater to more specific needs by genetically engineering police dogs and thoroughbred race horses."

    It gets a brief mention in the title and then the body focuses on cows, dogs, and horses rather than the part about cloning humans???

    Actually checking TFA, it says:

    "There are currently no plans in the pipeline to clone and produce humans in a bid to eradicate disease, but Xiaochun has said that this can change if people become more open to the idea of it."

    So it sounds like the cloning humans is just a "hey, we could do this at some point" thing, and not part of the initial plan of operation?

    In any case, i'm not sure why this is a good solution to a demand for more meat. In the long run (and possibly even the short run) doing a little more research and building a cultured meat factory would probably be a lot more cost effective than cloning the entire cow.

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  3. Misleading Headline (what's new) by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 4, Informative

    There are currently no plans in the pipeline to clone and produce humans in a bid to eradicate disease, but Xiaochun has said that this can change if people become more open to the idea of it.

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    If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
  4. Just one question: why? by whitroth · · Score: 3, Informative

    Is a specific cow, or pet that special? And if so, why on *earth* would you think a cloned one would act the same?

    And people... there are these people called "twins", or "triplets", etc, and they all turn out differently. What would you expect to get by cloning someone?

    And it's a long term thing, if you're cloning your favorite movie star, or politician...

                    mark