Clone factory scientist eyes human replication and says technology already there

The Chinese scientist behind the world’s biggest cloning factory has technology advanced enough to replicate humans and is only holding off for fear of the public reaction. Boyalife Group chief executive Xu Xiaochun says the company is already working with its South Korean partner Sooam and the Chinese Academy of Sciences to improve primate cloning capacity to create better test animals for disease research. And it is a short biological step from monkeys to humans – potentially raising a host of moral and ethical controversies. "The technology is already there,“ Xu said. "If this is allowed, I don’t think there are other companies better than Boyalife that make better technology.”

Maybe in the future you have three choices instead of one. You either have 50-50, or you have a choice of having the genetics 100% from Daddy or 100% from Mummy. This is only a choice.

Xu Xiaochun

Boyalife are building the giant plant in the northern Chinese port of Tianjin, where it is due to go into production within the next seven months and aims for an output of one million cloned cows a year by 2020. In the factory pipeline are also thoroughbred racehorses, as well as pet and police dogs, specialised in searching and sniffing. Xu seeks to become the world’s first purveyor of “cloned” beef, breeding genetically identical super-cattle that he promises will taste like Kobe and allow butchers to “slaughter less and produce more” to meet the demands of China’s booming middle class.

Remember, this is a food. We want it to be uniform, very consistent, very premium quality.

Xu Xiaochun

Science cloning