JAPAN: FARMERS MOVING TOWARDS PRODUCING CLONED COWS

Japanese/Nat Japanese farmers are moving rapidly towards a brave new world, producing hundreds of cloned cows destined for the dinner table. Researchers are using an alternative cloning technique from the one used to manufacture Dolly the sheep, but it is a method they say is cheaper and far more reliable. Japanese scientists are trying to bring animal cloning to the dinner table. A team of scientists led by Doctor Yoshito Aoyagi successfully produced nine calves in July, using the same technique used for Dolly, the sheep that made history as the world's first adult-animal clone. Five of the calves survived, three of them are seen here feeding and looking healthy. Aoyagi says he and his colleagues have realised that an alternative form of cloning known as embryonic cell cloning has great potential commercial value. SOUNDBITE: (Japanese) "The striking point of this cloning technique is that we clone the cows with the embryonic cells which can be precursors to any type of tissue cells of an adult animal due to its nature as nearly non-differentiated cells." SUPER CAPTION: Yoshito Aoyagi, Central Research Institute for Feed and Livestock. The cloning process is begun by first removing a fertilised egg from a cow. Researchers then take out the nuclei from the fertilised egg and replace it with a cloned nuclei which contains genetic information, or DNA, of a high quality cow. After the two are fused by an electric shock, the egg is put into the womb of a surrogate cow and carried to term. SOUNDBITE: (Japanese) "The supply of sperm has been the main trend in this cattle raising industry. However, with this embryonic cell cloning technique, the supply of the good quality embryo at low cost in a massive bulk will trigger a revolutionary shift from dependence on sperm to embryo." SUPER CAPTION: Yoshito Aoyagi Nearly four hundred cows cloned from fertilized eggs have hit the market as beef or breeders. Researchers say Japan is probably the only country in the world where state-of-the-art cloning techniques are already being performed widely in rural breeding centers. But there are dissenters. A major Japanese newspaper has warned that escalating research could result in a diminishing of ethics. To cover all bases, the Science and Technology Agency has appointed a 16-member panel to study the ethics of cloning. Last year, the Education Ministry followed the United States' lead by freezing funds on human cloning research. For Japan's teetering domestic cattle producers, who have been pounded by cheap imports, embryonic cell cloning could well be a godsend. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/13e6dd0cad60ceeb8e317e6c82d4ac2a Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork