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AMID a blaze of publicity last week, Los Angeles company Allerca announced plans to genetically modify cats to prevent them causing allergies – and promptly started taking $250 deposits to reserve a kitten.

But allergy-prone cat lovers tempted by this offer should read the 4000 words of small print first: the deposit “shall be non-refundable whether or not a Cat is ever produced or delivered”.

“The deposit ‘shall be nonrefundable whether or not a Cat is ever produced’”

Allerca claims its cats will be “the first in a planned series of lifestyle pets”. It says it will produce 200,000 kittens a…

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