World’s first ‘handmade’ sheep cloning succeeds

Shenzhen (CNS) -- The world's first handmade cloned sheep has shown normal vital signs since its birth on March 26, the Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI) announced on Wednesday.

Handmade cloning is cheaper and simpler than traditional cloning, experts say, and does not require the kind of complicated procedures used to create Dolly the sheep in 1996.

However, because of the low success rate of handmade cloning, which ranges from 5 to 10 percent, the birth of the 5.74 kg lamb is good news for both agricultural and biomedical industries.

BGI initiated the program in September of 2009, but didn't manage to establish a systematic handmade cloning method until more than a year later.

At the 2012 "two sessions," Minister of Agriculture Han Changfu said that China is endorsing significant cultivation projects of genetically modified organisms.