02.13.07

Happy Valentine’s Day, Dolly

Posted in General at 8:06 pm by MamaSaid

 

Based on a comment received about a recent cloning submission of mine (thanks), this entry is in honor of the fourth anniversary of the death of Dolly the sheep, on February 14, 2003.

For those who may be unaware, Dolly was the first mammal that was actually cloned from an adult cell, born on July 5, 1996. A Scottish research center called the Roslin Institute created this cloned sheep and named her Dolly. The existence of Dolly was not revealed to the public until almost a year later. On February 14, 2003, poor Dolly was euthanized after an exam by a veterinarian found she had a progressive lung disease. Even Dr. Patrick Dixon, a expert on the ethics of human cloning (of all inhumane things), stated, “She was not old – by sheep standards – to be put down.”

Believe it or not, this poor victim of experimentation was given a name to appeal to the public once the horrifying announcement was made there was an actual cloned sheep in existence, perhaps an attempt to diffuse the inevitable, deserved negative reaction. “Dolly” was chosen because the cell used to create the sheep was from a mammary gland and the name was in honor of country western buxom star, Dolly Parton. How can humor possibly be injected into such a situation? Obviously regard for life and bodies means very little and marketability is key to these mad scientists.

Dolly was bred twice with a ram named David. She gave birth to Bonnie in 1998 and then had three more lambs the following year. Less than three years later, Dolly was diagnosed with a form of arthritis. A short year later, she was put down because of lung disease. Perhaps the living evidence that clones are deformed and weaker, unnatural counterparts of an original life had to be destroyed by these mad scientists. Clearly, life and its natural cycle are not important to these experiments – only power and how animals can be used and abused by those in power, maybe even humans someday.

As I discussed in my recent blog, the FDA has deemed meat and milk made from clones “are safe to eat”. The director of food policy at the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) states that the FDA is not paying attention to the research that proves cling results in deformed animals and higher death rates than other technologies used for reproduction. She said, “Our government, in effect, says it is okay to increase the amount of suffering animals as long as they don’t suffer in new ways.” CFA will make requests to supermarkets and companies to refuse to sell food made from clones. The Center for Science in the Public Interest want a government forum to address animal welfare and other ethical considerations.

Greg Wiles, owner of the first farm in the country to clone cows, told Food Chemical News that his clone stopped growing, looked awful and the FDA, “paddled him around like a tennis ball from agency to agency.” Maybe it was easier to ignore there was a problem so the FDA could go ahead with a plan they had intact years before.

Imbalances in hormones, protein and fat levels can compromise the safety of food made from clones. According to the National Academy of Sciences, food borne illness cases such as E coli could increase due to cloned livestock.

In honor of deceased Dolly, and for the love of life, I would like to reiterate that cloning is unnatural and wrong. Cloning hurts innocent animals and people for the financial benefit of a few selfish folks. Let’s protest this inhumane practice in the spirit of love.

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