While the mutation continue...

Have you ever seen a glowing dog?

No, me either.

But aside from the swine flu virus hogging our television 24/7 there was a report yesterday that scientists in Seoul, Korea have engineered through cloning 4 beagles that glow red. I’m not sure how this is connected but they say that this will lead to finding cures for human diseases.

It's also big news that South Korean scientists have created the first transgenic dog that glow in the dark. "Transgenic" simply means expressing a "trans-gene," or a gene normally found in another organism. They were able to do this by inserting a fluorescent gene from sea anemones into dog fibrolast cells.

As someone who has kept dogs as pets, it's hard for me to think about using them as research animals. I'm not sure that I could personally work in a lab that studies them, due to my emotional involvement with the species.

Besides, whats the point of a glow in the dark dog? Ok, maybe it matters only as a proof of concept that RFP (red fluorescent protein) is an easy to insert gene.

At a time when the use of dogs and cats in research has been declining, this is a step in exactly the wrong direction.

As far as scientific studies go, I suggest that we let them practice and do studies on the real animals on death row, you know, the ones that we are supporting. Yeah, why not? Let's cut the deficit...Start with MAN because isn’t that where it all began?

Animal testing is not normal. It was never normal. It won't be normal. It must be stopped everywhere.

God bless our animals.