Scientists clone monkeys

[Catherine]

Chinese scientists have successfully cloned two Macaques. That means we can now clone primates. They used the method used to clone Dolly the sheep, but in the end had to use cells from a fetus to create new monkey fetuses.
It is complicated and inefficient at this time, but they have done it, so they will do it again.

http://www.thewesternstar.com/news/scien...xt-180112/

The question is why clone monkeys. Monkeys can create their own babies.
The plan is to create identical lab animals. These would be used to replace rats and mice as they would be closer to humans for lab testing.

Also the monkeys could be genetically manipulated to produce multiple identical monkeys with diseases like Parkinsons.

So instead of moving away from animal testing they are finding a worse way to do it. Ignoring the issue of cloning, they are finding a new way to do lab tests on primates. It may be expensive and complicated to do now, but they will find a way to make it cheaper and faster. It won't matter that clones don't live long, they don't plan to let them live long.

I feel sorry for those two little monkeys who have actually been created to suffer in a lab. Because they are the first clones they will be tested to death. 

In a world that is trying to find better  ways, they have found something much worse.