For the first time, researchers have used the cloning method that produced Dolly the sheep to create two healthy monkeys, bringing science an important step closer to being able to do the same with humans.
Since Dolly's birth in 1996, scientists have cloned nearly two dozen kinds of mammals, including dogs, cats, pigs, cows and polo ponies, and have also created human embryos with this method.
But until now, they have been unable to make babies this way in primates, the category that includes monkeys, apes and people.
First, there are the surrogate mother monkeys, who live their lives at the mercy of the scientists who use them and forcibly impregnate them. Then there are the cloned animals themselves along with the failures, who rarely survive past six months, suffering with deformities and health problems such as respiratory distress, brain abnormalities, immune system failure, and heart failure.
Zhong Zhong and Hua Hua are said to be healthy, but make no mistake -- they'll also spend their lives at the mercy of scientists and potential experiments, likely in fear, as will any other future "successes." Dolly the sheep lived her entire life at the Roslin Institute, developing arthritis at four years old and eventually being euthanized at six due to progressive lung disease and severe arthritis.
(via Scientific American)
Since Dolly's birth in 1996, scientists have cloned nearly two dozen kinds of mammals, including dogs, cats, pigs, cows and polo ponies, and have also created human embryos with this method.
But until now, they have been unable to make babies this way in primates, the category that includes monkeys, apes and people.
First, there are the surrogate mother monkeys, who live their lives at the mercy of the scientists who use them and forcibly impregnate them. Then there are the cloned animals themselves along with the failures, who rarely survive past six months, suffering with deformities and health problems such as respiratory distress, brain abnormalities, immune system failure, and heart failure.
Zhong Zhong and Hua Hua are said to be healthy, but make no mistake -- they'll also spend their lives at the mercy of scientists and potential experiments, likely in fear, as will any other future "successes." Dolly the sheep lived her entire life at the Roslin Institute, developing arthritis at four years old and eventually being euthanized at six due to progressive lung disease and severe arthritis.
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