S Korean scientists clone a dairy cow

"The cloning of animals will help increase food production and contribute to the welfare of human beings by helping treat generic diseases," Prof Hwang told journalists.

He said he had used the same method used in Britain when a research team produced a sheep in 1997, which became the world’s first cloned animal.

DNA analysis showed the calf, named `Young-Long’, is genetically identical to the donor cow, which had been specially bred to produce three times the volume of milk of regular breeds.

Prof Hwang took ova from the cow, removed their nuclei and replaced them with body cells before implanting them in host cows.

"The successful cloning result will help put an end to disputes over thecredibility of Dodley-style cloning," scientist Lee Kyung-Kwang said in reference to the cloned sheep in Britain.