It may soon be possible, in other words, to buy shares in a company whose primary source of revenue is cloning farm animals. Infigen claims to be further along than any other company at making cloning efficient and, thus, economical. During a recent tour designed to prove his point, President Michael Bishop took a reporter and photographer to several small, unmarked farms leased by the company in the rolling hills of Wisconsin dairy country. He showed off scores of clones. The company has created 110 cattle clones and about 30 pig clones, he said.
Numerous pregnancies are underway.
Of the embryos it implants in surrogate cows in cloning attempts, just 17 percent result in live births. Still, that's an impressive figure when most laboratories are still reporting 3 percent to 5 percent success rates. Bishop and his employees have taken to giving clone pairs whimsical names. One set of cow clones is named Cookies and Cream, and another pair is named Carbon and Copy. You've got two of this kind, two of that kind.