05/16/06 to Clone or not to Clone?

For me the jury is still out when it comes to the cloning of animals. Now I am not blind to the benefits of cloning in the case of livestock. For example the Chinese have reported successfully cloning a calf with genes resistant to BSE , or Mad Cow. In this instance cloning benefits both humans, and animals. On the other side of the coin is cloning for self gratification, and this is where in my view, things get a little murky. Breeding companion animals and horses is a labor of love, not to mention a vocation. It seems a moral affront to the generations of individual who have worked to perfect the American Quarter horse that a cutting horse recently was cloned and will be allowed to compete, or that people will spend thousands to clone their pet while shelters overflow with animals waiting adoption. . Where do we draw the line? It makes me ill to think I could live could live to see the day that a horse of a different color could very well be purple