Digital Sprocket

It looks like the FDA is poised to approve cloned cattle for human consumption. While the expensive of cloning makes it unlikely that we’ll be eating clones any time soon, it does suggest how cloning may be employed profitably in the near future. Most cows don’t snuggle up to their favorite bull anymore. Artificial insemination is the standard practice, and pedigreed semen can sell for a surprising price. While it may not be worth it to clone an animal destined for your dinner table, a more likely scenario is to create a clone of an aging prize bull. The semen from the clone should sell just as well as that from the original. It will be financially rewarding sectors like this that will provide the real impetus to perfect cloning techniques.

While beef may be big business, the way horse breeders spend money, I’m surprised we haven’t heard of cloning attempts in that arena. Stud fees for horse dramatically eclipse those for cattle. And think if you could raise and train a dozen clones of a thoroughbred winner. Some are bound to lose out due to injuries, but at least one should be a champion like the original. On the day that a clone wins the Kentucky Derby, cloning will have come into its own.

What of the moral implications of cloning? Through the process of selective breeding we have been manipulating genetic lines of animals and plants for the entire history of farming and animal husbandry. If we look at it in the same light, we can at least wrap our heads around it. As for cloning humans, we should think of it like any other medical procedure. First, do no harm. After that, it’s a matter of individual moral understanding. Cloning is in our future. Its possible benefits are too great for us to simply turn away from it. Can it be abused? Certainly, but so can any other technology we’ve developed. It’s in the application that we demonstrate our wisdom, or lack thereof.