There *should be* no scientific reason for cloned meat/dairy to be a problem except for the reasons you've already come up with (if the original is suseptible to bronchitis the herd will be *and* we know that our copy quality is not as controlled as we would prefer). However, I'm not a biologist, etc.
That said, I'm less terrified of cloned meat than of the scary antibiotics laden meat I expect it will also turn out to be...
Shit like this makes me think our Family needs to buy a lot of land in Montana...
Pretty much. Plus, Montana is getting warmer all the time!
The thing that I didn't really articulate well before is the potential for ever greater loss of genetic diversity that is inherent in the widespread use of cloning instead of breeding. That is my deepest concern about cloning itself. I agree with you though that the conditions under which the animals are raised are more likely to make the animal products unsafe for people than the clones themselves.
I hadn't really considered the genetic diversity aspect in an overall. Wow, yeah, that's bad. Diversity good.
I think it was actually the Dakotas that I thought were so lovely when we drove through them. I would like to live next to a totally random mountain in the middle of a wide plain...
Well, I think Montana is a bit too out there, for me and mine it is Vermont. Which is predicted to have a climate like North Carolina in a few decades, unless the Gulf Stream shuts off and then another ice sheet rolls down. So 30 or 50 acres and heritage breeds gonna be enough? I'm still planning on learning how to run a team of horses so when the oil runs out that can be passed on.
Perhaps the most productive cloning effort would be the wooly mammoth and other ice age creatures, as well as keeping up reindeer and musk ox herds so when the ice does come back some of us will be able to hunt. Turn the Plains back into a buffalo commons as well. Ya think?
My main thought on Montana (or any of the great plain states) is that land is cheap, it's pretty easy to buy a decent sized house (for the "okay, we need room for at least 4 adults, workshops, offices, etc." part of the equation), population density is low, etc. Now, personally, I'm not sure I would want to live that far from neighbors, but if the family were to actually set up our own little enclave that might make up for distance from other people.
You're right about land being reasonable there...I remember reading a while ago about some towns, maybe in Arkansas or Kansas, that were giving free houses/land to people willing to move there.
On the other hand, you'd have to live in a Plains state. Constant wind, few trees, no hills/mountains, and soil and groundwater with a distinct legacy of recent agribusiness. I'm not sure I'm all that interested.
Sounds good to me...and I do agree that Montana is a bit isolated. On the other hand, it's unlikely to be underwater anytime soon. And it does have really lovely mountains. I do like the access to water, however, that would come with being in a place more like Vermont or Washington...in either place we'd be nearer a water/trade route.
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That said, I'm less terrified of cloned meat than of the scary antibiotics laden meat I expect it will also turn out to be...
Shit like this makes me think our Family needs to buy a lot of land in Montana...
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The thing that I didn't really articulate well before is the potential for ever greater loss of genetic diversity that is inherent in the widespread use of cloning instead of breeding. That is my deepest concern about cloning itself. I agree with you though that the conditions under which the animals are raised are more likely to make the animal products unsafe for people than the clones themselves.
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I think it was actually the Dakotas that I thought were so lovely when we drove through them. I would like to live next to a totally random mountain in the middle of a wide plain...
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Perhaps the most productive cloning effort would be the wooly mammoth and other ice age creatures, as well as keeping up reindeer and musk ox herds so when the ice does come back some of us will be able to hunt. Turn the Plains back into a buffalo commons as well. Ya think?
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On the other hand, you'd have to live in a Plains state. Constant wind, few trees, no hills/mountains, and soil and groundwater with a distinct legacy of recent agribusiness. I'm not sure I'm all that interested.
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