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Dr. Hwang's achievement has drawn a flood of praise and envy from the world's media and scientists. They hail the achievement as a breakthrough that many have failed to accomplish over the years.
The canine cloning achievement made global headlines. The Washington Post said the successful cloning of man's best friend marks another milestone and said South Korea clinched the growing reputation as a premier center for cloning and stem cell research.
The New York Times said the Korean scientists, led by Dr. Hwang Woo-suk, cloned what scientists deemed the most difficult animal of all and quoted other researchers as saying they were in awe of the South Koreans' effort and dedication.
Professor Ian Wilmut, creator of Dolly the Sheep, the world's first cloned animal, agrees. "A number of labs had tried that over the years and not succeeded. So it is interesting that they have succeeded and it's another thing that I want to learn about."
In the U.S., scientists have tried for seven years in a multimillion-dollar effort to genetically duplicate dogs, but failed.
In the short term, the successful canine cloning encouraged the commercial pet-cloning industry, which replicates much loved dead pets. A cloned-to-order kitten was produced last year by a U.S. company that hopes to commercially clone a dog within the next year.
In the long term, researchers say the dog experiment offers a reliable research model for cures to a lot of diseases, as dogs share physiological characteristics with humans.
Meanwhile, some scientists and ethical groups are expressing concerns over the latest breakthrough by Dr. Hwang Woo-suk, fearing that the development may pave the way to cloning humans.
Dr. Hwang has insisted that cloning human beings is not only ethically wrong and medically dangerous, but will be technically impossible at least until the next century. He says the purpose of his experiments is therapeutic stem cell research.
However, Park Se-pill, head of the research institute Maria Biotech in Seoul, argues that human cloning could be much easier than that of a dog since scientists are more familiar with the reproductive system of humans. He also pointed out it is easier to obtain eggs from humans than it is from dogs.
Arirang News
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