According to the Chinese news agency Xinhua, the large animal cloning factory currently under construction will be operational throughout the first half of 2016. Its cost is estimated at 200 million yuan (about 30 million euros) and is The result of a partnership between the Chinese technology firm BoyaLife and the South Korean company Sooam Biotech . It so happens that the founder of the latter is Hwang Woo-suk, accused of scientific fraud and unethical conduct after announcing in 2004 that he had cloned human embryos.
Located in the city of Taijin, 160 kilometers from Beijing, the new hi-tech farm will produce on an industrial scale various types of animals, such as police dogs, racehorses and, above all, cattle, to supply the growing demand for meat. in China. Those responsible plan to develop 100,000 cow embryos in a first phase and then progressively increase their productive capacity until reaching one million per year. This figure would represent 5% of the high quality cattle slaughtered in the Asian country.
Although a recent report by the European Food Safety Authority states that no health risk has been detected in cloned animal meat, potential consumers continue to be suspicious, as evidenced by the stir that the news has raised on Chinese social networks. Many also recall that the farm’s facilities – which will occupy 14,000 square meters – are located near the chemical plant that exploded last August and took the lives of 165 people.
The factory’s spokesmen counterattack, pointing out that it will also serve to save species on the brink of extinction. BoyaLife and Sooam Biotech recently demonstrated the potential of their technology by cloning three purebred Tibetan Mastiffs.
