"In hindsight [it seems that] this sort of validation should be done on this kind of scientific breakthrough," she said.
Dog Clone
Dogs are notoriously difficult to clone because of reproductive challenges, such as infrequent fertile periods in females. Other mammals have much more frequent and regular cycles.
It took more than a hundred embryo transfers into surrogate canine mothers over a three-year period to produce Snuppy.
"Going through an extended process in order to clone one dog means that this isn't something that every dog owner is going to be doing in order to replace a favorite pet," Ostrander said.
However, cats have proved easier to copy.
In February 2004, Genetic Savings and Clone, based in Sausalito, California, began offering commercial cat-cloning services to individual owners.
Since then, several felines have been duplicated for owners willing to pay the U.S. $32,000 price tag.
The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) plans to introduce a bill into the U.S. Congress this year. If passed, the bill would ban the sale of cloned pets.
HSUS President Wayne Pacelle said cloned animals are often born deformed and have physical problems that diminish their quality of life.
"The practice is inhumane and unnecessary," he said.
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