Animal cloning

"Perhaps the most compelling argument against animal cloning is the very real suffering endured by animals involved in this science. There are four areas of

concern with regard to the pain and suffering animals experience due to animal cloning:

• the suffering animals undergo during cloning procedures;
  
• the obstetrical complications that occur in the surrogate animal;
  
• the health of cloned animals; and
  
• the suffering animals will be forced to endure if cloned to exhibit, for research purposes, or for certain diseases and pathologies.
  

Recent data on the success rates of cloning procedures and the health and survival statistics of animal clones present a fairly grim picture.  There is a large body

of literature citing high rates of

• miscarriage,
  
• stillbirth,
  
• early death,
  
• genetic abnormalities, and
  
• chronic diseases among cloned animals.
  

These problems occur against a backdrop of what in cloning science has been called “efficiency,” theterm used to talk about the percentage of live offspring from the number of transferred embryos.The efficiency of animal cloning has typically been about 1 to 2%, so for every 100 embryos that are implanted in surrogate animals, about 98 of the embryos fail to produce a live animal offspring.  Even when efficiency rates are at their best, the overwhelming majority of attempts fail. One study explicitly touting a “highly efficient” method for cloning pigs claims efficiency rates of only 5 to 12%.  This is still a failure rate of between 88 and 95%.

These numbers have serious consequences for both the donor and surrogate being impregnated: surgery must be used to remove the donor animal’s eggs and then another surgical technique used to implant the embryos into the surrogate. In the least “efficient” processes, for every one or two live cloned offspring, 100 eggs must be harvested and 100 embryos implanted. For unknown reasons, cloned fetuses often exhibit a high birthweight, frequently necessitating a C-section delivery, again causing pain and suffering to the surrogate animal.

Of the live clones born, many experience compromised health status or early death. In one study of cloned pigs, researchers reported a 50% mortality rate for

the live offspring, with five out of 10 dying between three and 130 days of age from ailments including chronic diarrhea, congestive heart failure, and decreased growth rate. In some studies, cloned mice experienced early death due to liver failure and lung problems. In others, they had a high tendency to develop morbid obesity."