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South Korean firm, scientists unveil plan to clone pets

A South Korean firm is offering to clone pet dogs in cooperation with the scientists who created the world's first cloned canine, the company said on Friday.

Seoul-based RNL Bio said it is already working on its first order from a woman from the US who wants a clone of her dead pit bull. She was especially attached to it because it saved her life when another dog attacked her and bit off her arm.

The client provided the firm with ear tissue from the dead dog, which she had taken and preserved at a US biotech firm before the dog died a year and a half ago, said company spokeswoman Kim Yoon.

The chances of successfully creating a clone are about 25 percent, Kim said. The firm is charging US$150,000 for the clones, which clients pay only after they receive a new pet.

Cloning work will be done by a team of Seoul National University scientists led by professor Lee Byeong-chun, a key member of disgraced stem cell scientist Hwang Woo-suk's research team, Kim said. The company will handle marketing.

Most of Hwang's purported breakthroughs in cloning human stem cells were found to be fake. But the team was found to have successfully created the world's first dog clone, an Afghan hound named "Snuppy."

Lee was the main scientist leading the dog-cloning. He later cloned more dogs and succeeded in cloning a wolf. Kim, the company spokeswoman, said that no other scientists elsewhere had succeeded in creating cloned dogs and that her company is offering the world's first commercial dog-cloning service.

Lee confirmed the university's animal-cloning clinic would work on the project, but he did not elaborate.

RNL Bio plans to eventually focus on cloning not only pets, but also special dogs like those trained to sniff out bombs.

Established in 2000, the company produces animal disinfectants and health supplements, while also conducting stem cell research.
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