China to build world’s biggest ‘cloning factory’ to mass-produce pet dogs
China is planning to avoid a predicted food shortage by building the world’s biggest cloning factory to produce up to a million cloned cow embryos every year.
In a project costing 200 million yuan (nearly £21 million), Chinese biotechnology firm BoyaLife is building a factory in Tianjin, China to mass-produce the animals. As well as creating cows for food, the plant will also clone racehorses, sniffer dogs and canine pets.
The factory is due to open in the first half of 2016. Aware that they are making history, the site in Tianjin will also include a museum, an exhibition hall and a gene storage area.
“Chinese farmers are struggling to produce enough beef cattle to meet market demand,” said Xu Xiaochun, board chairman of the Boyalife Group.
Commercial cloning is a relatively new practice in China, dating back to only 2014. The BoyaLife project will take this to the next level.
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