Transgenic dogfight

OXFORD - A political row is brewing in the Netherlands following the recent decision by Dutch Agriculture Minister Jozias van Aartsen to ban all animal cloning experiments (see BioCentury, March 2). Elly Plooij, a Dutch Member of the European Parliament, has called on the minister to reconsider his decision because of its potential impact on both the Dutch biotech sector and on the potential the technology has to develop new medicines.

The impact is already emerging. Pharming NV (Leiden), the Dutch transgenic company, last week announced that it had created genetically identical calves, named Belle and Holly, but said that it no longer will conduct such nuclear transfer activities in the Netherlands...