I didn’t mean to be belittling. I spent a decade in a molecular biology lab, doing a lot of DNA manipulation, including transforming and transfecting DNA into a few species. I have strong opinions on the topic that may be the result of too many nights spent in lab, instead of talking to humans. I probably talk about it too much when the subject comes up. Dogs are the most genetically diverse land mammal known, I believe it is not feasible that a handful of dogs that are cloned are going to have an impact on their gene pool.
This is not what I said. I said cloning dogs at scale would be bad for those dogs because cloned animals are more vulnerable to disease.
Cloned animals that live to term are not inherently unhealthy or prone to disease:
Myths about Cloning | FDA.
More research as more animals are cloned may refute this current consensus. Similarly, as more animals are cloned, the technique will likely improve. I am not saying there are not considerable societal,environmental and ethical questions, but Planet of the Apes aside, there are considerable potential benefits in terms of companion animals, endangered species preservation and recovery of extinct organisms.
Edited a typo.
Tell that to the Gros Michel banana.
If I were to clone any dog it would be the mixed terrier type that was originally going to be bait in a dogfight in the late 80s, but was rescued by my sister-in-law and lived to almost 20 years old. We never saw another dog quite like her and her parentage was inscrutable and likely mixed many times over. That’s a dog you will just never see the likes of again, and she was amazing.
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The problems of monoculture and limited biodiversity in agriculture (Irish potato famine, biblical plagues of locusts, cattle disease) have been with us since we as a species have been doing agriculture. There were not a million mutt varieties of bananas, as there are with dogs.
Yes, but only if the extant population of free‐ranging and breeding pet dogs were no longer there.
There are over 1000 species of banana.
We are literally talking about monoculturing a specific dog. It is not the least bit controversial to say that that group dogs is going to be vulnerable to a particular pathogen because they are literally all the same dog.
I used the Gros Michel banana analogy because that failure was not about monoculture. It was a failure caused by cloning. Every banana we eat (now Cavendish) is a clone.
What on earth are you even arguing against? I can’t tell anymore because your goalposts are moving so fast that I’ve lost them in the video compression.
I think our days are probably better spent doing other things than quibbling over bananas frogs cloning and biodiversity. I hope you have a good day.
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