Businessmen hope to clone Dracula
Posted: Tue Mar 16, 2004 11:47 am
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_28 ... theadlines
Businessmen hope to clone Dracula
A group of US businessmen have announced plans to clone Dracula by digging up the body of Vlad the Impaler who inspired Bram Stoker's original novel.
The decision comes after medical reports claimed that vampirism is a real condition that could have been treated by modern medicine.
Vlad, a prince of Wallachia in the 15th century, is buried at a monastery on the island of Snagov on a lake close to Bucharest.
The unnamed businessmen are due to visit Romania next month, according to the Romanian daily Libertatea, where they will finalise their plans.
The newspaper also claims that the group has already approached the Scottish research centre at Roslin, where Dolly the cloned sheep was produced, to find out whether cloning the count is possible.
Vlad, who was known as Dracula because of his father's membership of a Hungarian knightly order, became infamous for spiking Turkish prisoners of war on stakes.
The businessmen say the cloning plan will solve once and for all the mystery of Dracula .
Canadian scientist David Dolphin from the University of British Columbia in Canada says his research indicates a rare metabolic illness was the cause of the vampire legends.
He said vampires were probably suffering from Porphyria, a condition which stops sufferers producing haemoglobin which gives blood its colour.
Even today there is no cure for the rare disease - although Dr Dolphin points out that in the middle ages when the vampire myth took off things were much worse.
Businessmen hope to clone Dracula
A group of US businessmen have announced plans to clone Dracula by digging up the body of Vlad the Impaler who inspired Bram Stoker's original novel.
The decision comes after medical reports claimed that vampirism is a real condition that could have been treated by modern medicine.
Vlad, a prince of Wallachia in the 15th century, is buried at a monastery on the island of Snagov on a lake close to Bucharest.
The unnamed businessmen are due to visit Romania next month, according to the Romanian daily Libertatea, where they will finalise their plans.
The newspaper also claims that the group has already approached the Scottish research centre at Roslin, where Dolly the cloned sheep was produced, to find out whether cloning the count is possible.
Vlad, who was known as Dracula because of his father's membership of a Hungarian knightly order, became infamous for spiking Turkish prisoners of war on stakes.
The businessmen say the cloning plan will solve once and for all the mystery of Dracula .
Canadian scientist David Dolphin from the University of British Columbia in Canada says his research indicates a rare metabolic illness was the cause of the vampire legends.
He said vampires were probably suffering from Porphyria, a condition which stops sufferers producing haemoglobin which gives blood its colour.
Even today there is no cure for the rare disease - although Dr Dolphin points out that in the middle ages when the vampire myth took off things were much worse.
