US firm and antivivisectionists in cat fight

Courtesy of Genetic Savings and Clone

Genetic Savings and Clone, a leading pet-cloning company in Sausalito, Calif., announced the sale of its second cloned cat in February and dropped its price for the service from $50,000 to $32,000. At the same time, California Assembly Member Lloyd Levine says he will introduce a bill to ban the sale of cloned pets.

The American Anti-Vivisection Society (AAVS) also sent a petition to the US Department of Agriculture asking that the agency require pet cloning companies to register as research facilities under the Animal Welfare Act. AAVS released a report critical of pet cloning and unveiled a new site, http://www.nopetcloning.org. The group says that cloned animals often suffer from serious health problems and die soon after birth, and that cloning would exacerbate the animal overpopulation problem in the United States.

Genetic Savings and Clone also launched a new site, http://www.yespetcloning.org. CEO Lou Hawthorne ...