Cloned Cow a First for Thailand by Phairath Khampha 16 March 2000 Team to tackle water buffaloes next The first calf born by cloning in Thailand is healthy, lively and the object of envy among farmers, while scientists foresee a bright future for dairy animals but see no objection on ethical grounds. "Ing" was born at Vichaikul Farm in Bang Phae District on March 6, 2000. The 29-day-old calf had glittering black fur and a vibrant nature. Farmers who dismissed the idea of a cloned cow had now turned envious and expressed interest in having similar animals, said farm owner Somsak Vichaikul. He said he had no problem with raising cloned cows. "Now I have three types of cows. The natural ones, an artificially inseminated one and a cloned one living in the same barn." According to Rangsun Parnpai, pioneer researcher for this project, Ing's parental origin comprised of the SK29 prototype cell which was an ear cell from a 13-month Brahmin cow and an egg extracted from a uterus obtained from a slaughterhouse. The prototype ear cell and egg were fused together by electricity before being implanted in the womb of Ooy, a surrogate mother cow in June 1999. Ing was not born alone. She has a twin brother, "An," who was conceived through artificial insemination. The experiment was conducted by Mr Rangsun and six teammates at the Research Centre for Bioscience in Animal Production, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Chulalongkorn University. Centre director Prof Maneewan Kamonpatana, who set up the laboratory 20 years ago, said the latest achievement has put Thailand in the frontline of animal breeding technology in the academic world. In practice, it would take another three years to observe Ing in comparison with naturally born cows. If the clone proves superior, Prof Maneewan said it could become a cost-effective breeding method for the Thai dairy farming industry. Cloning technology may provide healthier, higher yield cows which cost less to raise. Prof Maneewan said she hoped for the day cloning became commercial whereby clone cells would be available for any farmer wanting to improve their farm animals. On the question of ethics, Prof Maneewan said she expected no ethical conflict from this experiment. "It is not against nature at all. There is no genetic engineering involved and the gene of Ing was not altered or changed," said Prof Maneewan. The centre had a similar experiment with 79 other cloned cells implanted in recipients. Only about 10 were currently pregnant while the rest have prematurely aborted. The following week, the team took prototype cells from the ear of a top line of milk calf in Ratchaburi. This time, said Mr Rangsun, the experiment would aim to develop milk-cow breed to help the dairy industry in Thailand. The team also started to tackle the cloning of water buffalos next because the animals provide superior meat and milk to cows, said the researcher. But there would be no attempt to clone elephants, Prof Maneewan said. Water buffalo to be cloned to save it from extinction - First embryo ready for surrogate mother Chulalongkorn University's Veterinary Faculty, which cloned the cow, chose the water buffalo, or khwai plak, as its next target. The choice settled on the water buffalo, the icon of traditional rice farming, because its numbers are dwindling rapidly in Thailand. In Burma, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam they are still very numerous and are the main mode of rural power for farms. Experts warned water buffaloes could disappear from Thailand and in future exist only in legend, pictures and history books. The Research Centre for Bioscience in Animal Production, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Chulalongkorn University, had already produced a buffalo embryo and was looking for a suitable surrogate mother for an implant. This required care as the birth rate of the buffalo is only one third that of cows, said centre officials. In the meantime, the embryo was being kept in a frozen state. Rangsun Parnpai, a researcher, said the centre's laboratory began work on cloning a buffalo in October 1999, producing an embryo from an egg and the skin of a buffalo foetus obtained from a slaughterhouse. Prof Maneewan Kamonpatana, the centre's director, has studied buffaloes for three decades. She said changed farming methods, which have seen the replacement of water buffaloes with mechanised ploughs colloqially known as khwai lek or "iron buffalo", has reduced the need for the animals in Thailand. There were 6.1 million water buffaloes in Thai rice fields in 1981, according to an Agriculture Ministry report. This had fallen to 1.2 million by the end of 1999. Buffaloes had long been beasts of burden valued and venerated by farmers. "Now, the farmers have become taxi drivers and the women work in factories. They use mechanised ploughs or buy buffaloes from others during the planting season and have them killed when the farming season is over."