In a message dated 3/31/2006 5:19:32 P.M. Mountain Standard Time,
bartson@xxxxxxx writes:
The
danger of Pandora’s box being, in this case,
humankind controlling & manipulating the basic genetic material -that
which is the life of the breed.Like I said, exploring science is not wrong, but allowing it to
permeate into the breeding pot without due consideration and the test of time
is just plain against my common sense.
Pandora's Box?
Genetic engineering is and will continue to be integral in feeding
mankind...cause it's efficient...the same is true in other facets of human
existence. It just is...it's in the food most of you eat every day.
Just because it has to do with "horses" now, OH GOSH, THE HORROR.
I'm not sure I agree with it, but that's how it is.
How many of the Anti-clone Bunch, upon being given a clone of Rio,
Secretariat, Your-Favorite-Horse-You-Had-To-Put-Down, would shake their
head and say, "No thanks, anyway, I don't believe in cloning...it's just not
ethical."
Not me. Give me the horse, and I will try to find a way to sleep at
night.
I don't agree with cloning, but as is common with so much in this country,
I certainly would accept a clone of my first real endurance horse and find
a way to delude myself when facing the bigger picture of what is right, what is
wrong.
Can "cloning" of horses just be a more efficient way of reproduction than
the study of pedigrees, the reading of the color genetics offered by UC-Davis,
the collection of semen (of a stud we've never truly seen in person) into an
artificial vagina, the mixing of a semen extender, the insertion into an
Artificial Insemination Transport Device, the flying of that semen across the
country, the vet with the straw and the baggy full of stallion, the drugging of
the mare ("roofie-for-the-hoofie"), locating that cervix-thingy, and the
depositing of the stallion-by-proxy?
WHO is responsible for the drawing of "The Line"....public opinion can not,
and has not saved the lives of thousands of Americans throughout history, up to
the present day. What could it possibly accomplish regarding HORSES?
Genetic engineering, cloning, is about MONEY...after all, this IS
America.
I have enough cash for a six-pack and some cheese enchiladas...and just
maybe, I'll find some nice little place, along the highway outta town that has a
jukebox and a cold Bud....that would be a Budweiser, King of Beers, made with
genetically-engineered barley and hops.
