Cloned Pets are becoming a reality. What do you think?

A California company will give five dog owners the chance to have a favorite pet genetically copied and brought back to life later this month. BioArts International has arranged an online auction to decide which dog lovers will qualify: at starting bids between $100,000 and $180,000.

This is not the first time animals have been cloned commercially. In 2003, the American Mule Racing Association funded the cloning of racing mules. Similar technology has now been used to replicate thoroughbred horses.

Some scientists warn that clones are prone to multiple health problems and premature death. Hawthorne responds that the success rate is one in four; he offers money back if the cloned dog is not like a twin of the original and does not survive for 12 months.

Others suggest customers may feel duped. A cloned dog is “likely to be a totally unknown dog, just as if you went to the pound and adopted another unknown animal”, says Dr Robert Lanza, chief scientific officer at the Massachusetts biotech company Advanced Cell Technology. “If anyone thinks they’re going to get Fluffy back, they’re gravely mistaken.”

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