LOS ANGELES, February 20, 2003 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Media reports are lamenting that Dolly, the cloned sheep that died last week, is taking on “a new, darker symbolism, and that cloning may have consequences far beyond a creature’s birth.” It is not yet proven that Dolly’s premature death at six years of age, apparently from a range of health problems including abnormally rapid cell deterioration, a lung infection, arthritis and other problems, “had anything to do with her unnatural start in life,” says a report in Singapore’s Straits Times. The fact remains, however, that barely one in 100 cloned animal embryos are born alive. Of these, many have health problems such as deformities and heart, lung and weight abnormalities. “A growing number of studies suggest that clones ... may carry within them subtle genetic abnormalities that could cause medical problems later on in life,” the newspaper says. For more coverage: http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/techscience/story/0,4386,172308,00.html For previous coverage: DOLLY THE SHEEP PUT DOWN DUE TO DISEASE http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2003/feb/03021402.html