Poodle Cloned In South Korea
Pastor Dale Morgan
Poodle Cloned In South Korea*
Now everyone can have the same one.
by Staff Writers
Seoul (AFP) Jan 25, 2007
South Korean scientists who created the world's first cloned dog, an
Afghan hound, have now cloned a poodle, a news report said Wednesday.
The Korea Times quoted a source as saying that a team led by Professor
Lee Byung-Chun cloned a poodle bitch midway through last year at the
College of Veterinary Medicine of Seoul National University (SNU). The
team had previously cloned one male and three female Afghan hounds.
"The poodle puppy is the world's fifth dog clone and the first other
than Afghan hounds. This marks another breakthrough in animal cloning,"
said the source.
Researchers at Seoul National University declined to comment on the report.
Science and Technology Minister Kim Woo-Sik said on Monday that the SNU
team had cloned other animals in addition to the Afghan hounds and wolves.
"The university asked me not to disclose some other cloning feats, which
they said are possible only in Korea," the minister told journalists. He
did not elaborate.
Lee's team said in July last year that they had succeeded in cloning two
females of an endangered species of wolf and had sent a research paper
to scientific journals.
But the feat was largely dismissed and the paper was rejected because
Lee had worked with disgraced cloning expert Hwang Woo-Suk.
The SNU team created the world's first cloned dog, Snuppy, in early 2005
under the stewardship of Hwang, who also claimed to have cloned
patient-specific stem cells.
After much of Hwang's research work was proved early last year to be
bogus, all of the team's work came under suspicion. But several tests
confirmed that the canine cloning was genuine.
Hwang, who was hailed as a national hero until a university inquiry
ruled his work was fake, is now on trial for fraud, embezzlement,
ethical breaches and other charges.
He has insisted he can still prove he created the first cloned human
stem cells.
Source: Agence France-Presse