World's Largest Cloning Factory Can Clone Humans

The largest cloning facility is being built in Tianjin, China and has the technology capable of cloning humans, however due to public reaction. For now, the only clones this factory is planning to produce is cows, horses, and dogs. The facility will soon be able to charge $100,000 for the cloning families' deceased pet dogs. The company building the facility, Boyalife, is also looking into primate cloning to create test animals for disease research. This facility will also house up to five million frozen cell samples for future research. One of the most exciting upcoming projects that this company along with Sooam, their partner, is the cloning of the woolly mammoth by cloning cells that have been frozen for thousands of years.

I agree with Boyalife in the decision to not include human cloning. With all the pop culture and science fiction including plots about negative effects of cloning can put the public into a frenzy when news of actual human cloning is a reality. When human cloning comes to mind, the movie "Gattaca" also comes to mind. Other than that, it amazes me that technology has come so far that it is possible to now successfully clone humans. The cloning of other animals can lead to amazing research in a number of different fields and although it is extremely expensive it, is also equally comforting and disturbing to know that families can now clone their dead dogs.

Original Article

China, Minimizing Food Imports with Cloning

In 2016 the world's largest animal cloning facility is set to open in Tianjin, China. The companies responsible for this 500 million dollar operation are Boyalife Group and Sooam Biotech. Recently, China has become overly reliant on cattle imports; to lessen such economic stress, this project was established to create a reliable source of beef cattle. Not only will this plan benefit China by allowing self reliance for beef, but cloning cattle will also provide high quality cattle due to cloning the best cattle. Aside from livestock, this clinic will also be used to clone sniffer dogs and racehorses; this facility with provide China with the highest quality livestock, service animals, and animals used for sport. Despite this potential solution to China's foreign livestock dependence, some of the Chinese population is against this new facility. After many food safety controversies like melamine-tainted baby formula incident, people are skeptical about whether the cloned livestock would be safe for consumption. Another reason for this opposition is the controversial location of this facility. In August of 2015 there was a deadly chemical explosion in this location raising the question whether that area is suitable for living. If successful, this facility can reinvent the way livestock is grown.

I am glad that this agricultural cloning facility is not being built in the United States. Cloning seems to be a sensitive subject and with the freedom to protest, religious groups, PETA, and any person who just enjoys protesting would just halt productivity and possibly lead to a shunning of the cloning industry. I believe cloning is a good idea because it creates a secondary source of food dependence. Cloning could prevent a shortage or an inflated price of food caused by disease or disaster at farms. I also believe that cloning should not be relied on as a sole source of agriculture; since it appears that the cloning facility will clone animals with similar qualities, disease could kill the clones very easily. By having the same traits, the animals will be susceptible to  same diseases which could be devastating to the population.

Original Source
Info about Boyalife Group; their website was currently down.