A biotech company in California is set to start selling a new product, but it's not a chemical or a drug: it's a cat. Specifically, ">a cat that the company claims won't cause its owners to break out sneezing.

Early in 2007 the Allerca company will offering to carefully screened customers kittens that have a particular genetic mutation that causes it to not produce the proteins that are responsible for most cat allergies in people. The cost? $4,000--and a wait of a year or more before delivery. Is this a boon for allergy-ridden cat lovers or a harmful Frankenstein experiment?

Potential buyers are interviewed as if they were adopting a child, I guess to make sure the purchasers are not just acquiring the cats as a novelty or trendy accessory. The price tag is steep, but considering what years of allergy products and doctor visits can cost, the cat may pay for itself if it lives long enough.

The company claims to have found cats with a mutated version of the particular gene, which produces a different protein that is much less likely to prompt allergies in humans. So the cats are naturally bred, it says, not produced through genetic modification. I'm hoping this is true and that kittens are not being produced that will develop premature health problems. And I would hope that the government regulates this type of breeding activity, but I'm not sure.

If you're a cat lover with allergies, would you consider buying a "sneeze-free" kitty (assuming the price came down)? Do you think the breeding poses any ethical questions, or is it as straightforward and as traditional as the company claims?

UPDATE: Below is an interesting (and funny) op-ed column from the L.A. Times on this subject and the whole "lifestyle pet" trend.

http://tinyurl.com/jee79