If a pet dies, will you spend hundreds of thousands of yuan to clone it?

Reporter investigates pet cloning market

  Recently, "Woman spent 250,000 yuan to successfully clone a dead pet dog" rushed to the hot search, causing heated discussions in the society.

The woman said that the moment her dog left, "I couldn't let it go", so she chose to clone.

Some media conducted an online survey on "Will you clone a dead pet?" Among the 100,000 people who voted, more than 26,000 people chose "yes" or "if economic conditions permit".

  What should you think of pet cloning?

What is the current status of the pet cloning market, and is it allowed by law?

How to resolve disputes arising therefrom?

With these questions, the reporter conducted an investigation.

  □ Zhang Shoukun, a trainee reporter of this newspaper

  □ Our reporter Han Dandong

  The dog who accompanied her for many years died unexpectedly because she choked on chicken. Ms. Lin from Shanghai had a hard time accepting this fact.

After retrieving relevant information on the Internet and learning that pet cloning can make her pet dog "return" to her side, after many consultations and understanding, she decided to "recover" her pet dog through cloning technology.

  "Although I spent a lot of money, my dog, Kelly, has returned, and everything is worth it." Ms. Lin said in an interview with a reporter from the "Rules of Law Daily" recently.

  In recent years, the "it economy" has continued to heat up.

According to the "2021 White Paper on China's Pet Industry" produced under the guidance of the Pet Industry Branch of the China Animal Husbandry Association in 2022, there are 58.06 million pet cats and 54.29 million pet dogs in urban households in China.

In this context, the pet cloning market, which is an emerging track of the pet economy, is also quietly heating up.

Companies offering pet cloning technology are easy to find online today, and related ads are common.

  Experts interviewed pointed out that there is no clear legal provision for commercial cloning of animals in my country, so pet cloning is not illegal under the current legal framework.

However, the ethical and moral risks brought about by pet cloning exist objectively. Spending a lot of money to clone pets may bring about a series of disputes, which requires attention and vigilance.

  The market is heating up and the technology is mature

  Pet cloning is not illegal

  Ms. Wang from Shenzhen, Guangdong adopted a Chinese pastoral dog "Doudou" many years ago, which has a "flower tongue".

"Doudou" witnessed many important moments for Ms. Wang's family, and later died of chronic renal failure.

  At the suggestion of her daughter, Ms. Wang chose pet clones. When she saw the cloned dog at first glance, she choked up: "This familiar flower tongue, even the toes are exactly the same, it can't be wrong, it's funny..."

  With the improvement of people's living standards, more and more people have pets, and they spend money on high-end rations, clothing and vaccinations, etc., but pets eventually end their lives. Over time, some people, like Ms. Lin and Ms. Wang, choose to clone their pets after they pass away.

  However, pet cloning is controversial. Some people support it, thinking that it is a continuation of the relationship, and it is worth the cost; some people question it, thinking that cloning is just a copy of a body, and cannot bring back pets that have passed away; some people propose that cloning technology It is difficult to avoid ethical and legal risks.

  So, what is pet cloning?

Is pet cloning legal in my country?

  According to Zhao Minghui, chief scientist of Panji Gene, a biotechnology company that provides pet cloning services, cloning technology, also known as asexual reproduction technology, is the process of using biotechnology to produce offspring with the same genetic information as the original individual through asexual reproduction.

  "A pet owner who wants to do pet cloning must first collect tiny pet skin tissue. The collection process must be carried out in strict accordance with the relevant sampling operation manuals to avoid sample contamination to the greatest extent possible. The collected samples must be delivered to the genetic laboratory within 48 hours. The personnel perform a series of operations such as somatic cell isolation, culture, nuclear transfer, cloned embryo cultivation, cloned embryo transfer, etc. Generally, a 3-month-old cloned cat can be delivered to the customer within 8 months, and within 12 months A 3-month-old cloned dog can be delivered." Zhao Minghui said.

  Regarding the "similarities and differences between cloned pets and cloned pets" that many people are concerned about, Zhao Minghui explained that at the genetic level, cloned pets are more like identical twins born at different times, with the same genetic material, except for appearance and personality. They are also similar, but their personalities are greatly affected by the acquired living environment, so there will be some differences.

  Can cloned pets survive and reproduce normally?

  It is understood that, according to current technology, cloned animals can generally have a normal lifespan and the ability to reproduce offspring.

Snuppy, the world's first cloned dog, has a life span of 10 years and has more than 10 healthy offspring; the pet cat "Ping An", previously cloned by Panji's gene, is now one and a half years old and is sexually mature.

  "Some international reports have also made relevant assessments on cloned animals from the side, all showing that there is no difference between cloned animals and conventionally bred animals. For example, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) once issued a 968-page 'final risk' assessment', which mentions that 'food derived from cloned cows, pigs, and goats poses no more risk than food derived from sexually bred animals of the same kind'." Zhao Minghui gave an example.

  The reporter noticed that institutions that do pet cloning basically have animal gene storage services.

In this regard, Zhao Minghui explained that gene storage is an important prerequisite for pet cloning. If pet cloning is compared to the process of planting flowers, gene storage is to obtain seeds, and then you can choose to plant them immediately or wait until later.

Some pet owners store genes in preparation for future pet clones.

  "Canines and cats can be genetically stored or cloned at any age. In order to ensure the success rate of sample collection and reduce the stress impact of sampling on animals, it is recommended to collect samples in advance when they are healthy. Pets only contact us after they have passed away, and some have even been buried or frozen, which poses a great challenge for the extraction of active cells." Zhao Minghui said.

  Xie Zhiyong, director of the Health Law Research Center of China University of Political Science and Law, introduced that my country's criminal law stipulates that the implantation of gene-edited or cloned human embryos into humans or animals constitutes a crime if the circumstances are serious, but there is no legal provision in my country for commercial cloning of animals. , so pet cloning is not illegal from a legal point of view.

  Pet cloning is expensive

  prone to various disputes

  Cloning a pet is expensive.

The reporter contacted a number of pet cloning agencies, and the quotations were all over 100,000 yuan.

  The reporter saw in the 2022-2023 version of the product manual of Beijing Sino Valley Biotechnology Co., Ltd. that its cheapest pet cloning project is A-type cloned dogs, including 12 categories such as 10-12-month-old poodles and Pomeranians. , the price is 220,000 yuan per dog; the most expensive is the E-type cloned dog, including 11 categories such as Bernese Mountain, Caucasus, Alaska, etc., which are 10 to 12 months old, at 450,000 yuan per dog.

  With all that money spent, cloned pets aren't all happiness for pet owners.

  In 2020, Ms. Zhao in Beijing signed an agreement with a domestic pet cloning company on September 28 of that year because her cat was critically ill, stipulating that the company would use her cat as a donor to clone a kitten for her.

Ms. Zhao paid a total of nearly 130,000 yuan for service fees and sampling fees.

  A year later, the cloning company delivered a cloned cat to Ms. Zhao, but Ms. Zhao noticed something was wrong: the sex of the cloned cat was different from the original cat.

She also found that the cloned cat had been having diarrhea after returning home. After taking it to the pet hospital for diagnosis, the results showed that the cloned cat was infected with calicivirus, coronavirus and Mycoplasma feline, and had symptoms of ascites, which had serious health problems.

  This is a recent case encountered by Li Kun, a lawyer at Beijing Shengchi Law Firm.

  "Compared with the cases involving infringement of consumer rights and interests, the particularity of this type of case is that the cloning technology involved is far from people's daily life, and the process of providing cloning services and products is not well known to everyone. Only by understanding the biological and even medical foundations can we understand. Cloning pets is expensive, often hundreds of thousands of yuan or even hundreds of thousands of yuan. Consumers who choose to clone pets must have very deep feelings for their pets. Only by understanding this, can It may be possible to find out the true intentions of the parties involved in order to judge whether some of the consumer's claims are reasonable and whether the clone service provider has fulfilled its proper obligations in terms of aspects that have not been clearly agreed upon by the two parties." Li Kun said.

  She told reporters that the difficulty of producing evidence and defending rights in such cases also stems from the above-mentioned particularities: "The 'quality problem' of cloned pets is mainly reflected in two aspects. Animals, or the unsuccessful use of cloning technology, there are differences in genes or phenotypes beyond the normal range; the second is the acquired health problems of cloned pets.”

  Li Kun said that according to the "who advocates who gives evidence", if consumers believe that there is a "quality problem" in cloned pets, at least the initial burden of proof rests with consumers.

If the "quality problem" belongs to the former, it involves identity identification; if it belongs to the latter, it is necessary to conduct a health examination in time after receiving the cloned pet to fix the evidence.

In terms of rights protection, in addition to the difficulties of rights protection caused by the difficulty of proof, because the consumer protection agency is unfamiliar with cloned pets, there will be hesitation on whether to apply the Consumer Rights Protection Law, and the solution of the problem will often be pushed to the court.

  The reporter found that, in addition to not being able to clone the desired pet, in the process of pet cloning, a large number of egg donor animals and surrogate animals may be used for experiments at the same time, and the result is likely to be cloned at the same time. How to deal with it varies in practice.

Most cloning companies will negotiate with the customer in the sales agreement for processing methods and purchase costs. If the customer does not need extra cloned pets, the company will recruit them for adoption or raise them in the breeding base, but sometimes these extra cloned pets may also be Humanely destroyed or abandoned.

  Xie Zhiyong believes that the ethical and moral risks brought about by pet cloning are objective, but the existing laws can basically solve the problems that may arise.

  "For multiple clones, the cloning company has the right to dispose of them. If the cloned pet does not meet the relevant conditions agreed with the pet owner, it can be dealt with in accordance with the contract law and other relevant laws; It is also difficult to identify as a crime if it conforms to its own expectations and abandons it, because pets are legally only property, and the owner has the absolute right to dispose of them; if the abandoned pet hurts people, according to the Civil Code, the original owner should bear the tort liability. Xie Zhiyong said.

  Choose your cloning institution carefully

  Sign an agreement to avoid risks

  Xie Zhiyong is not positive about pet cloning.

He believes that the natural emergence and natural demise of pets is a simple matter. From the perspective that a few people can get comfort, pet cloning may have a certain market, but it is difficult to become a large-scale social demand due to technology and cost. At present, there is no need to issue relevant laws and regulations specifically for pet cloning.

In addition, people should be more careful with cloned pets to avoid more stray animals.

  In Zhao Minghui's view, more and more people choose pets for emotional comfort nowadays. Many pet owners regard pets as family members. It is foreseeable that in the future, many people will choose pet clones based on their emotional needs.

  So, from the perspective of pet owners, what issues should be paid attention to when cloning pets?

  "Because the cost of pet cloning is high, and the pet itself is related to the pet owner's emotional investment, if cloning fails, it will bring a double blow to their psychology and property." Li Kun suggested that pets should choose cloning institutions carefully, and try to choose good reputation, Regular companies with mature technology, if time and energy permit, can personally visit the cloning company's cloning sites such as laboratories, breeding centers, etc., and fully communicate with technicians and conservation personnel.

  "It is especially important to sign a formal written agreement, in which the quality standards for delivery and the supporting documents to be delivered, such as the identity certification report issued by a qualified agency, and the certificate issued by a formal third-party pet hospital, should be clearly agreed upon. Health certificate, vaccination certificate, etc. There are also specific liability for breach of contract in the agreement. When the cloned pet is delivered, attention should be paid to check whether the accompanying certification materials delivered by the other party meet the contractual agreement, if it is found that the certification materials are not provided, or the cloned pet delivered If you have health problems, you can refuse to accept it. If the pet has health problems after receiving it, you should go to a regular pet hospital for treatment in time, and keep the diagnosis certificate, case, bills, etc. in order to protect your rights according to law in the future." Li Kun reminded.