DESPITE a few isolated“successes”, procedures forcloning animals are still

essentially experimental and far fromreliable, a world expert told the AVAAnnual Conference, in Perth. So greatwere the existing problems that it waslikely to be at least two years before anyreal progress would be made in cloninganimals, despite the enormousinvestment being made into this area ofresearch.Dr Jonathan Hill, an Australian AssistantProfessor at Cornell University’s Collegeof Veterinary Medicine, said mediapublicity had given the world theimpression that cloning was now almost aroutine procedure. This was far from true.He said there was a range of problemssurrounding the few cases where cloninghad been achieved, including extremelylow birth rates, a very high incidence ofabnormalities, oversized young andpremature aging of the cloned animals.Only recently a new mystery hademerged – the fact that some clonedcalves had been found to possess cellsindicating they were “younger” thanreality said they could be.“The success of cloning relies on thecomplete reprogramming of each genefrom a somatic cell so that it developsinto a normal viable foetus. At this time it

appears we cannot completely andreliably accomplish this,” Dr Hill said.He had addressed conference sessionsorganised by the AVA SIG, the AustralianEmbryo Transfer Society (AETS). Duringa later interview with the AVJ he saidmassive sums were being invested intothis area of research because of theobvious potential for huge agriculturalrevenue flows if cloning of animals couldbe perfected.But despite all the money spent to date,the extent of cloning problems was nowadmitted by every major cloning researchbody in the world. This included theRoslin Group in Edinburgh, the“creators” of the first cloned animal,Dolly, the sheep.“The debate continues on clones and justhow “normal” they are – a lot more timeand research needs to be devoted to thesubject before any conclusions can bemade,” Dr Hill said.

Aust Vet J Vol 78, No 8, August 2000504

News

Perth AGM – big crowd approves motionsTHE AVA’s streamlined 77th

Annual General Meeting duringlast month’s Perth Conference

proved a success.Around 150 delegates attended and mostmotions were passed overwhelmingly. Onewas formally withdrawn at the meetingand one – the “dog food” issue – was over-whelmingly defeated.To shorten the traditional AGM agenda itwas decided to separate the presentationof AVA Awards from the meeting byconducting a special Awards Breakfast.Similarly, the formal induction of the newPresident was switched from the AGM tothe official Conference Dinner. Bothideas proved popular.Delegates gave a warm response to theFinancial Report by the AVA Treasurer,Dr Nick Kannegieter, which outlined theAssociation’s strong financial performance

during 1999 and compared that situationto the period of struggle only a few shortyears ago.The sound financial situation of the AVAled the Board to recommend to the AGMthat the membership subscriptions for2001 remain at $310, plus GST. Thatmotion was approved. The Board alsorecommended a motion – easily passed bythe meeting – that the AGM be entitledto determine lower rates for membershipsubscriptions in the first four years ofmembership. The meeting then endorseda Board recommendation that thesubscription rate for the fourth year aftergraduation be set at 75 per cent of thenormal subscription rate. Another Boardrecommendation, designed to protect theultimate ownership of assets accumulatedby AVA SIGs, was also approved by themeeting. This requires that the AVA

Constitution be amended to insert a newarticle 86 (with the existing article 86being renumbered to article 87), whichstates that Board decisions relating to SIGassets must be “varied or repealed only byunanimous decision of the Board, all ofwhose members being present at thetime”. A proposed motion from Dr Alan Bennett,involving the AVJ and canine diets, wasresoundingly defeated after the meetingheard a statement from the journal’sScientific Editor, Prof Colin Wilks.Another proposed motion, calling for adiscussion on the “provision of services toMembers in smaller Divisions of the AVA”,was officially withdrawn by the SADivision, following earlier discussions atthe Conference that had rendered themotion unnecessary.

Cloning notyet perfected

Dr. Jonathan Hill

THE AVA’s official Patron, HRHthe Princess Royal (Princess Anne),visited Perth’s Murdoch University

veterinary school last month in responseto an invitation from the faculty to retracesteps she had taken there 25 years earlier.Ironically, this visit came only one weekafter the close of the AVA’s PerthConference, which the Princess had beenunable to attend even after its original pro-posed dates had been changed in an effortto coincide with her visit to WesternAustralia.Her tour of several Australian States waslargely at the behest of the AustralianOlympic Committee, as part of its fundraising for the Sydney Olympics. Since thePrincess is also the Patron of the UKOlympic Committee, it was arranged thatall proceeds of her activities in Australia bedivided between the Olympic bodies ofboth countries.The AVA, WA Division, the Universityand its Veterinary Faculty jointly hostedthe three-hour visit on 7 July.The Princess showed a keen – and knowl-edgeable interest – in many of the exhibitsand projects she was shown across thecampus. As a former Olympic equestriancompetitor, she was most at home withequine issues.It seems she enjoyed the visit – she over-stayed her planned schedule by almost 30minutes.

Patron visits Murdoch