Expert: Cloning pets ‘ethically dubious and a waste of money’

Replicating pets is a waste of money and “ethically very dubious”, a leading expert has said following the birth of Britain’s first cloned dog.

Professor Robin Lovell-Badge, one of the UK’s top stem cell scientists, joined anti-vivisection campaigners in condemning pet cloning.

He pointed out that cloning procedures frequently went wrong, leading to physical defects and ill-health, and even when successful never produced an animal identical to the original.