Thursday June 28 9:10 AM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters) - This is not to be sneezed at.
The man who cloned the first mammal in the United States -- Amy the calf -- is working on a new project, a cat that won't make allergic pet lovers miserable.
University of Connecticut (UConn) Professor Xiangzhong (Jerry) Yang said Wednesday that such an allergen-free feline could be available for sale by the year 2003. But he stressed this was not the start of a new world of designer-cloned pets.
The no-sneeze cat was just an offshoot of his research into using ``therapeutic cloning'' to develop cures for human ailments like Parkinson's disease (news - web sites) or diabetes, he said.
``We're just working with animal models,'' said Chinese immigrant Yang, who said he is opposed to human cloning.
However, Yang, who heads UConn's Transgenic Animal Research facility, is working with Transgenic Pets, LLC, a start-up biotechnology company, which plans to sell non-allergenic cats for $750 to $1,000 each. Company founder Dr. David Avner is still looking to raise an estimated $2 million capital to pay for Yang's research.
� 1997
Talk to me!
Get your own Free Home Page