Biotechnology Appeals to Our Lizard Brains
The laboratory formerly led by the scandalous Hwang Woo Suk intends to commercialize their one significant success, cloning a dog. In this case, they imagine profits in cloning service dogs, such as drug sniffers. The lab has signed a contract with the Korean customs service, even though the price of a cloned dog ($50,000 to $100,000) is much greater than the cost of a typical drug dog (approx. $5000 to $10,000).
In this case, the researchers may have government underwriting to thank for the otherwise unprofitable venture:
Although the lab, which is financed by the government, is focusing on cloning animals that provide services to humans, such as seeing-eye dogs or dogs who help law enforcement authorities, Kim said there is a possibility the team could look at cloning pets.
They might be more successful than the defunct Genetic Savings and Clone, which preyed upon pet lovers' heartstrings by offering to clone pets, often deceased, by way of irresistible images of kittens and puppies.
Proposals to use stem cells for baldness and breast enlargement, and gene transfer for erectile dysfunction, take advantage of even more visceral emotions, in these cases insecurity and sexuality.
Will technologies with enormous power to reshape both society and individuals be initially introduced for frivolous purposes? Will pet cloning and gene therapy for sexual confidence make human reproductive cloning and genetic modification technically feasible and more palatable?