South Korea to use cloned dogs to sniff for drugs and explosives

INCHEON, South Korea: The country that created the world's first cloned canine plans to put duplicated dogs on patrol to sniff out drugs and explosives.

The Korean Customs Service unveiled Thursday seven cloned Labrador retrievers being trained near Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. The dogs were born five to six months ago after being separately cloned from a skilled drug-sniffing canine in active service.

Due to the difficulties in finding dogs who are up to snuff for the critical jobs, officials said using clones could help reduce costs.

[From South Korea to use cloned dogs to sniff for drugs and explosives - International Herald Tribune]

I had tuned out these cloning-related news in the past because they all seemed to focus in pure academic research and the morons that oppose it without as much as trying to read the description of what is it that the scientists are trying to do. I have no idea if this is the first mainstream announcement about cloning animals for a practical purpose, but if it is I hope they get away with it.

Of course, this is the kind of thing that we can't do in the United States. Even if the dogs in question were trained as guides for the blind, or as rescue dogs, a political element in this country will effectively seize the opportunity to crush the scientists simply to make a few cheap headlines.

This is a real world application to a controversial scientific discipline, not one more attempt of soulless Science trying to destroy God, or whatever the hell is it that these people think cloning is all about.

I am eagerly awaiting for South Korean scientists to find the perfect pig with the perfect body composition for maximum bacon processing. Then it can be cloned and we can solve world hunger with delicious bacon.