The US public, by and large, is opposed to animal cloning. The reasons run a gamut from the ick factor to ethical and religious considerations, with the animal rights folks adding their heated rhetoric as well. Moral reasoning aside, The U.S. Food and Drug Administration tells us that, health-wise, eating the meat from cloned animals is safe. And beef ranchers and manufacturers and their member organizations, of course are in favor of cloning.
But as you fire up the barbecue one last time this Labor Day weekend, ponder this: This year’s grand champion steer at the Iowa State Fair was cloned from the Fair’s 2008 grand champion steer. Put another way –“Doc,” the 1,320-pound entry at this year’s fair, is an exact replica of a previous contest winner. Identical. Indistinguishable from its clone-mate, parent, twin, whatever (even finding the right word for cloned animals with respect to their relationship to their clone-mates is problematic.) But word-worry aside, Doc is, in effect, the same animal as the 2008 champion, spiraling right down to its DNA helix.
Now there’s no ruling at the Iowa State Fair that prevents cloned animals from competing in its contests. And Doc was described as a cloned animal when he was entered into the exhibition, so no one was trying to slip anything over on competition officials. (Interesting aside to add to the list of ponderables: The father of the 17-year-old boy who entered Doc is the president of a company called Trans Ova Genetics.)
So the contest at the Fair seems legit. But the Fair contest doesn’t seem fair. The musical strains of “Hello, Dolly” running through my head seem oddly chilling.
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