thoughtcrumbs

The cloning part wasn't creepy

Was anyone else creeped out by this article about cloning pets? It ostensibly portrays a typical American family living a typical life with their two dogs, clones of a deceased pet. They hike, chase each other off-leash, and like "lots of snuggles." So far, so good. We begin to think cloned pets aren't so far fetched.

But there's a disturbing undertone, mostly from a handful of offhand remarks:

• The South Korean geneticist who performed the cloning was fired from his university for claiming to have cloned humans in 2004. However, the owners of the cloned pet aren't concerned. "He's been very open with me about admitting his mistakes. Nobody says he lied about cloning animals."
  
  
• The dog owners are divorced and have a son. Says the husband of his ex-wife: "an excellent genetic donor, by the way."
  
  
• The 8-year-old son is studying high school algebra. The dad brings a notebook of quadratic equation problems in case the son gets bored at the lake.

The science doesn't come across as creepy; the family does.