pigs1.jpg

The BBC reveals that China isn't just experimenting with cloning. In fact, they're doing in on an "industrial scale". And this is all to produce healthier and tastier food.

The cloning is being spearheaded by a company called BGI. According to the BBC, David Shukman reports what he saw when he visited the facility in China recently:
The first shed contains 90 animals in two long rows. They look perfectly normal, as one would expect, but each of them is carrying cloned embryos. Many are clones themselves. This place produces an astonishing 500 cloned pigs a year.
Early stage embryos are prepared in the lab, and then inserted into sows. The team does two transplantations a day, and achieve a hit rate of 80 percent. Shukman explains that the operating theater is not air conditioned. It is neither clean either, and there are flies buzzing around the pig's head.

The place where they clone these pigs is also the world's largest center for gene sequencing, and is home to 156 gene sequencers.

Will BGI be able to produce better pork? Or is this mass cloning a cause for concern? [BBC Image by thornypup under Creative Commons license]