A great deal of media attention is centred on the price tag attached to the cloned Labrador puppy Lancelot.

However, the original Lancelot died on cancer, so wouldn't the clone be predisposed to develop cancer?

Money aside, do you think it's right to clone a dog, if the original dog died of an illness like cancer?

Was the cancer that the original dog died from due to environmental factors or genetic? THAT would weigh greatly on if Lancelot II will eventually contract and die from cancer.

I personally would never clone a dog. Yes, it would have the same temperament and looks as the previous dog, but there is no way on EARTH that it would be my 'old' dog.

To get the personality that the first dog has, the clone would have to live exactly like the first dog- which (for me, and most other people) is impossible.

ADD> Just a thought- what happens when we start freezing DNA of children, and by some freak accident the child dies, and we clone that child? We have a living being that is aware that its a 'replacement' for the first. How immoral is that?

I'm going to argue both sides of the issue:

1) I'm not keen on the notion of cloning... I think its a slippery slope from cloning dogs to cloning humans for replacement parts.

2) While cancer can be a hereditary issue, it can also be environmentally caused... so that, in and of itself, would not be the deciding issue - however, it has been recently proven that environmental insult to the body and age cause cellular change in the DNA/RNA~ this being so, taking cells from an old dog means that the cloned animal starts at a disadvantage.

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Since cloned animals are not duplicates of their source, I find it a pointless waste of time/money from a dog owner's perspective. From a scientific perspective, I'm much more ambivalent.

(having lunch with a bunch of geneticists and biologists on an ongoing basis is an interesting thing)

Wellllll....cancer is one of those genetics vs. environment things. Unless you know for a fact that the Lab's bloodline is predisposed to it, you can't necessarily call it genetic. Did Lancelot's littermates die from cancer? Did his parents? Their siblings? Their parents?

It's almost one of those "If any dog lives long enough, it will die of cancer" things. Our world is full of toxins, and plenty of people put them into dogs without realizing it.

If Lancelot lived a good, long life, it is probably worth it to his owners to do it again.

That said, I don't see the point in cloning dogs. Evidence shows that cloned dogs are never "replicas" of the original. They can have different markings, different temperaments.

I don't understand why, they are going to spend thousands when the poor dog will last only a few years. Remember Dolly the Sheep, she didn't last as long as the life expectancy for a usual sheep. It is probably expected that the dog will develop the same way as the original one, but you can never tell it will be exactly identical in life patterns.

Nothing is wrong with the cloning itself. But it's definitely not a wise thing to do.

Its possible since Lancelot v.2.0 is a direct copy of the original that the pup can develop cancer. As to is it right? I would never consider cloning any of my dogs that have passed on no matter how they died.

It wouldn't be the same animal and trying to recapture that is fruitless. I would just adopt or buy another of that breed.

Cloning is just wrong, humans and animals are meant to reproduce as nature intended, not in a lab. It's not the same, the genes are not right. Thats why they always die. It's sad for the actual clone having to go through with it.

If the first died of cancer then no...but if it was pretty healthy then maybe...

But...what's the point of cloning anyway? It doesn't make sense to me. Or am I missing something?

Putting all religious views aside, i think Cloning a dog is acceptable, the god nuts will hate it

I think it is a cruel thing to do, it takes your uniqueness and your Identity away from you, I hate the idea

I think that cloned animals are more likely do die young, eg from cancer.

I am not into the whole cloning thing. I would never have a dog cloned.

thats taking stem cell resarch to another level my man

how do they clone it i dnt get it :s but no i dnt think its right just get another one . sad loosers who do tht lol. plus y dont we go around cloning ourselves or dead family members im confuzled ha ha