That's not my clone! Where's my clone?
Aug. 6th, 2010 07:32 pmSomehow, possibly connected to never reading the papers, I missed the "clone milk and beef" shock horror, despite the fact the farm in question is just down the road, until I heard The Now Show parodying the scare stories this evening.
But at one point, they played the Today programme's report, and I'm pretty sure[1] the newsreader said the clone-cows were "created with eggs from champion American cows and sperm from ordinary bulls".
Now, I realise that biology was my weakest subject when I took my National Certificate in Science, but surely if a cow is made with an egg from a mummy cow, and a sperm from a daddy cow, it's not a clone!
(Edit: After extensive further research [glancing at The Scotsman], it seems that the point is mummy cow was a clone. But the actual cow the milk came from still wasn't. It's not like mummy being a clone makes any difference[2] - which I suppose just highlights what a nonsense the scare stories were.)
[1]I'd check, but it's not on iPlayer yet, and I can't get the podcast to work.
[2]As far as I'm aware - I've not heard of any abnormalities in Dolly's lambs, anyway.
But at one point, they played the Today programme's report, and I'm pretty sure[1] the newsreader said the clone-cows were "created with eggs from champion American cows and sperm from ordinary bulls".
Now, I realise that biology was my weakest subject when I took my National Certificate in Science, but surely if a cow is made with an egg from a mummy cow, and a sperm from a daddy cow, it's not a clone!
(Edit: After extensive further research [glancing at The Scotsman], it seems that the point is mummy cow was a clone. But the actual cow the milk came from still wasn't. It's not like mummy being a clone makes any difference[2] - which I suppose just highlights what a nonsense the scare stories were.)
[1]I'd check, but it's not on iPlayer yet, and I can't get the podcast to work.
[2]As far as I'm aware - I've not heard of any abnormalities in Dolly's lambs, anyway.