Abgineh is a cloned calf recently born at the Royan Institute in Esfahan. The institute cloned Iran’s first animal, a lamb, Royana, four years ago. Royan Institute is a non-governmental, non-profit organization established in 1991 as an infertility clinic. In 1998, it was approved by the Ministry of Health as the chief site for stem cell research in Iran. The religious objections to stem cell research that impede such work in the United States do not exist in the Islamic Republic.
