A firm's cloning of a bull calf has opened the gates for lucrative commercial gains from a practice that only last year was science fiction.
Wisconsin-based ABS announced last week it had successfully cloned Gene, a six-month old calf taken from foetal cells.
But the company has also had enormous success in developing the breakthrough which came when a Scottish institute performed the first cloning of a mammal from adult cells - Dolly the sheep.
ABS said that after more than four years of trying to perfect a highly intricate cloning technique, it had produced 10 cows cloned from adult cells, which were now developing as foetuses in surrogate mothers.
All 10 pregnancies have made it past the crucial 90-day period, during which most miscarriages occur. The firm's scientists are certain Dolly the sheep is soon to have several cloned cousins of the bovine variety.
Not only has the development given even more validity to the huge discovery made by Dolly's creators, ABS is making no apologies for the fact that it is looking to profit from the cloning craze.
