The Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF; Tokyo) has started investigating the seemingly high death rate of calves cloned from somatic cells of adult cows. Since the birth of twin calves cloned by researchers from Kinki University (Osaka, Japan) and Ishikawa Prefectural Livestock Research Centre (Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan) (Nat. Biotechnol. 16:703), 15 cloned calves have been born, one of which was dead at birth and seven of which died from respiratory complications within three days of birth. With another 71 cows currently pregnant with adult somatic cell clones, MAFF is becoming involved because of the high public interest in cloning. MAFF says it will first of all determine whether a death rate of 54% is unusually high compared to other cloned animals. (A death rate of around 40% is expected in the case of mice and sheep, for example.) Secondly, it will investigate the effect cloning techniques may have on the development of the embryo's respiratory system.