Dolly the cloned Scottish sheep has had health troubles for some time, and they caught up with her today. AP reports:
Dolly the cloned sheep was put to death Friday, after premature aging and disease marred her short existence and raised questions about the practicality of copying life.
The decision to end Dolly’s life at age 6 — about half the life expectancy of her breed — was made because a veterinarian confirmed she had a progressive lung disease, according to the Roslin Institute, the Scottish lab where she was created and lived.
“We must await the results of the post-mortem on Dolly in order to assess whether her relatively premature death was in any way connected with the fact that she was a clone,” said Richard Gardner, a professor of zoology at Oxford University and chair of the Royal Society working group on stem cell research and therapeutic cloning.
“If there is a link, it will provide further evidence of the dangers inherent in reproductive cloning and the irresponsibility of anybody who is trying to extend such work to humans.”
What is the world coming to: its senses? I’m not used to hearing medical scientists take a position that supports morality. Is it somehow (morbidly) fitting that on St. Valentine’s Day, the holiday representing romance and marriage, this famous fruit of asexual reproduction was put to an end? |
