Korean Launches Dog Cloning Service With US Partner

[Big Dog]

Korean Launches Dog Cloning Service With US Partner

Have you heard of Hwang Woo-Suk? He is the researcher from Korea who shot to some fame, then infamy, over his claims to have cloned the first human stem-cells.

Turns out that he had not, at least according to prosecutors in South Korea. They have put him on trial for embezzlement, fraud and other allegations.

But he's back. And this time the story is perhaps even stranger.

Working with a foundation in Korea called Sooam Biotech Research and US firm BioArts International out of California, Dr. Hwang plans to offer dog cloning to the highest bidder.

That's right - cloned dog - yours perhaps - at auction.

The bidding, open only to five canines, begins 18 June 2008, and the starting bid is a whopping $100,000.00 US dollars.

BioArts International may indeed be the world's first licensed commercial dog clone producing business. The sadly upbeat sounding bestfriendsagain service claims to have the only license issued by Start Licensing for the cloning of endangered species, cats, and yes, dogs.

Bits of the tech behind Dolly the sheep are in the mix too.

And in the great tradition of male hair implant commercials here in the USA, it appears the BioArts chief executive is not just an executive, he is also a customer. Missy, a dog that belonged to exec Lou Hawthorne, was cloned by Sooam Biotech four times. Missy passed away in 2002.

Korea's unique relationship with dogs and cloning includes the historic first ever cloned dog. It was "produced" in 2005 by the Seoul National University. Called Snuppy, it was an Afghan.

What do you think? Please post your thoughts on this matter. Is the clone your "best friend again"? I think not. One should not expect the personality to be the same. It could and should look like the original though.

Don't forget to upload pictures (for free!) of your dog to our dog picture gallery!

[Dogs - Best People]

I work in the building next to the veterinary faculty where ex-Prof. Hwang used to work. I was there when the scandal broke and followed events as they unfolded. Back then Hwang was something of a national hero, a man who'd risen from a poor background to become one of the elite at Korea's most prestigious university. The pressure on him to produce results must have been immense, and hence the temptation to descend into fraud.

Because of his successes, one after another, they started construction on a new building in front of the veterinarian school. It was to be a research center entirely devoted to him. There was large foundation laying ceremony, apparently attended by the country's president. I didn't see him but I did see the day-time fireworks they set off. Pretty soon the foundations were laid, a huge fence went up, trucks came and went, and a crane was erected. Then the scandal broke. The building was put on hold. Eventually, months and months later, everything was taken away, leaving a large hole full of concrete foundations. It's still there.

Back when the controversy raged, protests were held daily in support of Hwang, at the front gate of SNU and anywhere crowds were. People refused to believe he could do any wrong. I heard one guy committed suicide in protest. That gives an idea of the kind of feeling there was for him. It was as if an attack on him was an attack on Korea. But I hardly think he's a man worth dying for. 

I have no sympathy for him. Of course, he was guilty. Had he done similar things before? I have no proof, but in a Confucian society like Korea's, when you are that high up, you are not often questioned. You'll note that when the scandal broke, underlings were immediately targeted as the guilty ones. However, you might get away with cutting corners in your home town, but not on the world stage. Hwang just pushed his luck too far.

Personally, I would not trust him. From what I've heard, he is the kind of guy that would have had great success in politics, if you know what I mean. That's the kind of talk that went around about him on campus. Now, here he is working for a commercial enterprise, which I suppose was all that was left for him to do. His career was over at SNU. But where has his devotion to the advancement of Korean stem cell research gone? What he has gotten into, to my mind, is not far above selling snake oil. It further puts into question the ethics and integrity of the man.

Was there ever a more unnecessary business? It's for the rich, whose money would be better spent investigating the psychology behind their self-interested compulsions. As you allude to, cloning does not produce an identical brain. That is impossible. As those rich people will get is a dog's body upon which they can project their imaginations.

I am against cloning as much as I am against animal experimentation. The science of cloning was arrived at no doubt after countless animals suffered and died. No doubt many more will suffer and die--all the mistakes or "defective" off-spring. Yet again, it's just another means to turn an animal into a commodity. Just when you would have thought all avenues of exploiting animals for cash had already been explored, another one is invented. Cloning should prohibited, among many other things, as far as I am concerned.

While I am on the subject of the treatment of dogs as a commodity, it might interest readers to know that the Korean government is planing to class dogs as livestock. This move is supposedly to clean up the dog meat trade. That trade is illegal here, by the way, but nothing is done about it. Dogs bread for meat still live wretched lives and suffer all manner of cruelties in Korea. I've heard and seen things many people would find hard to believe. I urge people to visit http://www.koreananimals.or.kr/english/ for more information, among other sites out there. Some of the English may be awkward but don't mind that.

I mention dog meat because that is yet another despicable business of animal exploitation. That and cloning and all other means of exploitation have human gain and profit behind them, not animal welfare. Animals aren't just objects to use. This pervading cultural perception towards animals needs to be changed. And clear laws against things like cloning will help to achieve that. But even then, there will still be a long way to go before humans will have reached a civilized state in this regard.

[Big Dog]

Thank you for adding that thoughtful and very insightful post to this discussion.

Clearly I'm not in favor of dogs as livestock or the consumption of dog meat, but I try not to impose my or my culture's views on others.

The USA (here) is well known for its love of steaks and hamburgers. How would we feel if India pressured us day in and day out to stop eating an animal (cow) some there hold as holy?

I'd also like to see folks stop eating horses too.

In our coverage in the front section of the site about the treatment of dogs in China and other parts of the Pacific Rim I've tried to maintain that sensitivity to other cultural traditions. Traditions, however, can change over time. I hope dogs as companions, and not dinner, is a new tradition we can foster through respectful communication and example.

Again, thanks for that wonderful post.

[Dogs - Best People]

Oh no, when you mentioned tradition, an issue that is invariably dragged out in animal welfare discussions, and a sore point with me, I just had to reply.

I have to add that I don't see any views where animal welfare are concerned as having anything to do with culture. They are to do with ethics I see as above all cultures. So, I simply don't have the sensitivity you speak of for traditions. Nor do I think anyone should be tip toeing around them.

As far as I'm concerned, tradition is irrelevant. Just because something is old doesn't make it right, especially when it is based on past misconceptions, ignorance and causes suffering. This should obvious to anyone with intelligence from any country and culture. Tradition justifies nothing, in my view.

In countries like Korea there are real traditions that are part of cultural identity, and then there are just old practices. I've never been able to find any information about dog eating as a tradition in Korea, other than that people ate dogs after the Korean war because food was scarce. The people who label it a tradition usually have a financial interest in keeping the industry up and running.

I doubt many Koreans would want dog eating to be perceived as part of their national identity. Frankly, many Koreans are embarrassed about it.

The issue isn't whether to eat or not to eat dog or cow or whatever. It's the cruelty, brutality and horrendous conditions other sentient beings have to put up. This is way above tradition. And educating the ignorant into recognizing they are dealing with sentient beings, and getting them to understand the concept that they are causing reprehensible suffering, is way above tradition, too. It doesn't matter what country or culture they are from, either.

I don't see why people in any country should not be awakened, shamed and embarrassed into the recognition that their behavior is not acceptable. If other countries want to "impose" views on Westerners, and those views are in fact ethically valid, then so be it. But no countries can, because all countries are animal abusers. India, the example you cite, would not have a leg to stand on, as the country that supplies the world with so much leather--yes, clearly there are loop holes to get those holy cows in the slaughterhouse and their skins onto car seats.

To get back to cloning, I suggest that in cloning we are seeing a new tradition in the making. A hundred years from now, cloning could be extremely common. It could be so common that human complacency would have well and truly established itself. It could be so common that people will ignore what goes on behind closed doors as much as they do now with that perversion of nature, industrial meat farming.

That's where the danger lies, allowing it to become entrenched, like all those other invalid and unethical traditions people treat so preciously. Once that happens, the only ones that suffer are the animals, like so many dogs in Korea.

[Big Dog]

The Sooam Biotech Research Foundation (Korea) claims they have produced 17 rare Tibetan Mastiff puppies using a clone process that relied on DNA from only two adult dogs.

This is the effort headed by Hwang Woo-suk, the infamous Korean cloning researcher mentioned earlier in this thread and under investigation.

The Tibetan Mastiff pups were born in April it seems, and the effort was started, says Sooam Biotech Research Foundation, at the request of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

It remains to be seen if fully independent tests can verify these published claims.