Could we create herds of clones with the same physiological weaknesses, resulting in entire species being wiped out by a single epidemic?
Yes and no, answers Jean-Paul Renard, this is a bit of a non-problem for cloning: first, because we are currently a long way from producing herds of cloned mammals, second, because the issue has already been raised for artificial insemination in cattle, and weve satisfactorily dealt with it. With traditional artificial insemination techniques, we can give a single bull 100 000 descendants. Yet, even the most liberal countries have decided to limited the descendants of a single animal to protect biodiversity at a large scale. Therefore, it is possible, and essential, to deal with this issue before it becomes a real problem and to monitor biotechnological developments. Source: Gene Caf held on May 23, 2002 in Morsang-sur-Orge, with Jean-Paul Renard, director of research in molecular biology at INRA.
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