-Caveat Lector- Canada firm clones goat triplets to make spider silk April 28, 1999 Web posted at: 2:38 p.m. EDT (1838 GMT) QUEBEC CITY, Quebec (Reuters) -- News that a Canadian biotechnology company has cloned goat triplets prompted warnings on Tuesday that the technology involved could lead to the cloning of humans. The company, Montreal-based Nexia Biotechnologies Inc., said on Monday that the cloning was a first step in its plan to produce spider silk in goat's milk and turn it into a super-strong material for medical use. The material, called BioSteel, could help in repairing broken limbs and torn tissue. The three goats, Danny, Arnold and Clint, were born a month ago and are now living at a McGill University farm. Technique similar to Dolly Nexia said the cloning was a breakthrough for its "BioSteel spider silk" product development program. "The cloned goats were produced using a technique similar to that of Dolly the sheep in 1997," said Jeffrey Turner, Nexia president and a former genetics professor. The development spurred admiration and fear in Canada. "It means it is probably not so hard to do with humans," said Margaret Somerville, ethics specialist at Montreal's McGill University. Somerville said the experiment involving the triplet goats had resulted in an "extraordinarily important new piece of medical technology." She said, however, she would have a problem with the research if it was not done on a very limited scale for a very clearly justified purpose, and only with animals. "Where I do have a major concern is that we do not transfer this technology to humans. That is not right. I believe it is inherently and morally wrong to clone humans. That is the big worry," she told Reuters. The Canadian announcement almost coincided with Tuesday's revelation that researchers in Massachusetts have cloned three goats that are genetically altered to produce a protein in their milk that might be used to treat heart attack and stroke victims. Call for ban on human cloning A Quebec member of Canada's Parliament, Christiane Gagnon, pressed Health Minister Allan Rock on Tuesday to quickly enact a ban on human cloning. Rock responded that a few years ago a voluntary moratorium had been put into effect but that "it is necessary to do more." He said he intended to introduce a bill later this year, but he did not specify what the bill would entail. The three young goats all have exactly the same genetic makeup, or DNA. "The cloning that we have now proven in goats will significantly speed up our product development program by using the technology for gene transfer," Turner said. The company now plans to clone another goat that will carry a spider gene in its chromosomes. Spider silk proteins will be recovered from the goat's milk and processed into BioSteel. Goats were chosen because they produce milk faster than cows and sheep. Spider gene yields BioSteel The company said the spider silk gene worked well in cell culture to produce silk, and did not show any detrimental effects even when produced in large amounts. It said the process had an efficiency rate approaching 100 percent. Turner told Reuters in an interview the company would begin breeding thousands of goats if cloning with the spider silk gene is successful. "Yes, but we are not going to clone thousands of goats. We will not use cloning to propagate the species to build up production. We will use sexual reproduction for that," he said. "We do not want to create thousands of Dollies." Last year, Nexia produced Canada's first genetically altered goat, named Willow, as part of a program to develop life-saving human proteins. Turner said BioSteel is widely recognized as the strongest, toughest fiber known. With a tensile strength of 300,000 pounds (136,000 kg) per square inch, it is said to be stronger and lighter than steel and synthetic, petroleum-based polymers. Nexia said the silk, once it is perfected, could also be used in aerospace and engineering projects. "Nexia is developing BioSteel spider silk to satisfy urgent medical needs for high-performance biomaterials used in artificial tendons or ligaments, prostheses, tissue repair, wound healing and super-thin, biodegradable sutures for ocular surgery or neurosurgery," Turner said. Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. ================================= Robert F. Tatman [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Remove "nospam" from the address to reply. NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. 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