[Gaia (OP)]

US biotech firm Allerca says it managed to selectively breed them by reducing a certain type of a glycoprotein (Fel d1 contained in a cat's saliva, fur and skin) that triggers allergic reactions.

Despite costing $3,950 (£2,104), there is already a waiting list to get one.

more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/5375900.stm

Gaia  xxx

[Carolyn]

Sounds like the kind of kitty Neil needs.

Carolyn

[Gaia (OP)]

quote:Originally posted by Carolyn

Sounds like the kind of kitty Neil needs.

Carolyn

My thought exactly!

Gaia  xxx

[Gaia (OP)]

Sorry Neil, you're out of luck!

California cloning company copies cats no more Saturday October 14, 12:19 AM  http://uk.news.yahoo.com/13102006/323/california-cloning-company-copies-cats.html    
 
SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - Genetic Savings and Clone is closing up shop on after its pet cat cloning service failed to win a profitable following.

The company arranged to transfer customers' "gene bank" accounts to Texas-based ViaGen, which would store the material but had no plans to replicate pets, a figure familiar with the deal told AFP.

A recorded telephone message at Genetic Savings headquarters in Sausalito, California, across the bay from San Francisco, informed callers that the company would not speak with the press.

ViaGen declined to comment.

The demise of the first company to clone and sell pet cats was good news to the US Humane Society.

"It's no surprise the demand for cloned pets is basically non-existent, and we're very pleased that Genetic Savings and Clone's attempt to run a cloning pet store was a spectacular flop," said society president Wayne Pacelle.

"The industry has no business trying to profit from people's bonds with their pets or from efforts to engineer a new production strategy that was unnecessary, highly experimental and inhumane."

For each successful pet cloned, dozens die prematurely or suffer painful deformities, according to Pacelle.

Savings and Clone gained notoriety and stirred controversy in 2004 by providing cat owners genetic copies of dying pets for 50,000 dollars per copied cat.

The price was dropped by nearly 20,000 dollars last year to lure more customers.

The company announced the world's first cat clone in February 2002 and said it was working to duplicate dogs.

The company was formed in 2000 by billionaire John Sperling who was inspired by the successful 1996 birth of Dolly, the Scottish sheep who was the first cloned large mammal, to try to clone his beloved dog, Missy.

Scientists were dubious regarding the company's ambitions at the time, noting that it took 270 attempts to get Dolly and that the venture was rife with ethical and practical concerns.

"It is reassuring that the public has flatly rejected Genetic Savings and Clone's business model," said California assembly member Lloyd Levine, who has proposed legislation banning sales of cloned or genetically modified pets.

"With animal shelters across the country teeming with healthy, adoptable dogs and cats in need of loving homes, pet cloning -- and the suffering it involves -- is the last thing we need."

Gaia  xxx