but interesting...
http://www.canoe.ca/TopStories/clones_apr26.html
April 26, 1999
Cows cloned from milk cells
TOKYO (AP) -- Two calves cloned from cells found in cow's milk have
been born in northern Japan, officials said Monday.
The births last week at the Snow Brand dairy company's research center
in
Japan's northernmost main island of Hokkaido were the first ever using
colostrum -- the milk produced in the first week after a cow has
delivered, the company said in a statement.
The procedure could make it safer for animals to donate their cells for
cloning, as the extraction of cells from milk does not require making an
incision in the donor cow and reduces the risk of infection, Snow Brand
said.
The cloned calves were produced by combining the nucleus of a mammary
cell with an unfertilized egg and inserting the embryo into the uterus
of a surrogate cow. It was the same method used to produce the sheep
Dolly, the world's first cloned animal.
Three cows were made pregnant through the technique, but only two
succeeded in giving birth. One of the calves was delivered through
Caesarean section on April 20 and the other was delivered naturally the
following day, the company said.
Japan has recently been aggressively developing cloning techniques in
order to maintain the competitiveness of its cattle industry by
producing high quality
beef at a cheap price.
A controversy erupted earlier this month after the government said that
cloned beef has been on the market in Japan for at least two years,
prompting protests from consumer groups worried about its safety. The
government insists the meat poses no health threat.
Tokyo-based Snow Brand is Japan's largest dairy product company, and has
cloned several cows in the past.
Copyright © 1999, Canoe Limited Partnership.
--
Judith Richards, London, Ontario, Canada
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