Cloned food WTF

[Rick V]

*rant-on*
I just watched a story on the news about meat and milk from "cloned" animals. Am I missing something, is there a problem with cows,pigs,and chickens, doing the wild thing to make more of them? Why do we need to clone food? Isn't there a better way to spend research money...................like curing the common cold?
The last time I looked critters just went at it in the middle of a field and they made more critters.
I just don't understand, and can't wait for the research to see what cloned chickens do in space. (another big waste of money)
*rant-off*

[Steve PH]

Cloned stuff is like a freak show thing, cant see the point but hell it's exciting! And a bit wrong at the same time.

[Flatbutt1]

if clonig works(and I'm not so sure as yet), a "farmer" can clone many animals in the same time period as natural gestation takes to do one.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally posted by Rick V
*rant-on*
I just watched a story on the news about meat and milk from "cloned" animals. Am I missing something, is there a problem with cows,pigs,and chickens, doing the wild thing to make more of them? Why do we need to clone food? Isn't there a better way to spend research money...................like curing the common cold?
The last time I looked critters just went at it in the middle of a field and they made more critters.
I just don't understand, and can't wait for the research to see what cloned chickens do in space. (another big waste of money)
*rant-off*

It's the genetic quest. You want the highest yeild animals and despite centuries of selective breeding they still don't have the consistency that they would like.

The critters are also usually artificially inseminated.

They don't like to run the risk of a prize stud animal getting injured during mating.

I personally think it's a bad idea. I love science but this is territory that makes me nervous.

No valid basis for my position, just how I feel about it.

[fastpat]

Originally posted by Rick V
*rant-on*
I just watched a story on the news about meat and milk from "cloned" animals. Am I missing something, is there a problem with cows,pigs,and chickens, doing the wild thing to make more of them? Why do we need to clone food? Isn't there a better way to spend research money...................like curing the common cold?
The last time I looked critters just went at it in the middle of a field and they made more critters.
I just don't understand, and can't wait for the research to see what cloned chickens do in space. (another big waste of money)
*rant-off*

They use clones of particularly productive individual animals for their productivity potential, same for plants, only more so. Cuttings taken from grape vines for example, are in fact clones since they'll produce exactly the same grapes as the parent plant. The clones of specific French wine grapes is a billion dollar industry.

The problem with animals to a certain extent, and with humans very strongly is that you can't avoid chromosomal drift in the clones. Little by little the cloned animals change, usually for the worse because the chromosomes become damaged over time.

This phenomena is being studied, but my expectations that the problem will never be overcome in humans, so the research should be in plant reproduction. Some chromosomal drift produces new, better plants, or some other change such as the fuzzless peaches we call nectarines.

[Rick V]

If science has to clone animals, what is to stop the cloning of people? Nothing. Where does it end? who should we clone? Albert Einstien? Brilliant man but I suspect there are several million Japaneese who would say otherwise. I find the whole thing just plain old wrong. Micheal Keaton would agree. (the movie Duplicity)

[fastpat]

Originally posted by Rick V
If science has to clone animals, what is to stop the cloning of people? Nothing.

Well, yes, as I stated the Chromosomal Drift problem with humans is insurmountable. That's the stopper.

Where does it end? who should we clone? Albert Einstien? Brilliant man but I suspect there are several million Japaneese who would say otherwise. I find the whole thing just plain old wrong. Micheal Keaton would agree. (the movie Duplicity)

That's a movie, Rick, it didn't happen.

Human clones are unlikely for the above reason, and for other reasons too. For example, if somone were to clone you now, they'd be taking cellular tissue from which to make the clone that's already 50 years old (Okay, okay, just kidding, but you know what I mean ) so the clone would exhibit many of the symptoms of your age immediately, even if it were only a few months old chronologically, it's tissue would have age characteristics at the cellular level of a man your age. That's another stopper.