Environment

Mass-cloning factory slated for 2016

It seems the future is on us - with a plan to open a mass-cloning facility by the end of this year. The factory is part of an ambitious $21-million plan to mass-produce one million cows annually, by the year 2020.

The plan to build this futuristic facility, and begin production on thoroughbred race horses and genetically engineered police dogs too, is backed by the Boyalife group. It will be built in collaboration with South Korean company Sooam Biotech Research Foundation.

The factory will be housed in Tianjin, a northern Chinese port, and will be equipped with a 15 000 square metre laboratory, an animal centre and a gene bank. The plan is to clone animals to meet the demand for meat.

It is apparent that a market for these clones exists, and despite the ethical conundrums that plague cloning consistently, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given their thumbs up, saying "meat and milk from cow, pig, and goat clones and the offspring of any animal clones are as safe as food we eat every day".