By Charles Arthur Technology Editor
Independent News
Dolly
the sheep, the world's first cloned mammal, has been put in quarantine on her
Scottish farm over fears that she could catch foot-and-mouth disease. "She is
in her own accommodation in special housing," said Harry Griffin, the assistant
director at the Roslin Institute, near Edinburgh, and a member of the team that
cloned Dolly in 1986.
Dr Griffin said the research centre, which has become
a popular visitor attraction since Dolly came into being in July 1996, had been
closed in line with government regulations aimed at halting the spread of foot-and-mouth.
Dr Griffin said if Dolly caught foot-and-mouth then her fate would be
the same as on any other farm Ð she would have to be slaughtered. He said Dolly
had already proved her scientific point Ð which was that a clone could be created
from an adult cell.
He said the foot-and-mouth disease was already creating
problems for the scientific research going on at the institute. "We use Scottish
black-faced ewes to provide eggs for cloning, but we can't have deliveries of
them while the livestock movement bans are in force. It could in time have an
impact on our research."
Other animal research centres are also worried
about the effects of the disease on their research. However, none was prepared
to speak on the record yesterday. |
