A Montreal biotechnology firm has successfully cloned triplet goats . The kids are named Clint, Arnold and Danny .

This first Canadian cloning could lead to breakthroughs in the treatment of injuries like broken limbs and torn human tissues.

The company used the same technology invented by Scottish scientists to clone Dolly the sheep in 1997.

Cloning is the first step in a process that could ultimately lead to the mass production of a material known as BioSteel. Biosteel is an artificial spider silk developed by Nexia Biotechnologies.

Company president Jeffrey Turner says the silk can be used in tissue repair, neurosurgery and sutures, and to create artificial tendons and ligaments, among other uses. Nexia aims to extract the spider silk from goat's milk.

While nobody has yet made a fabric from biosteel, Mr. Turner is convinced the protein can be turned into a supermaterial because of its natural role in the silk of a spider's web.

"When you think of what a web has to do, its extreme strength makes perfect sense," he says. The silken threads of the web must be nearly invisible to prey and yet be able to bring a fly to a screeching halt.

Clint, Arnold and Danny were born in March.

To clone the triplet goats, a nucleus with a mass of cells from a source goat was placed in a petri dish and cultured.

One of these cells was then implanted into a mature, unfertilized egg. This replaced the egg's original DNA, which had been removed. This process was done three times, each time using the same source cells.

The eggs were then placed into two recipient mothers, with one female carrying two eggs, and the other the third.

Because cells were taken from the same source, the three kids have exactly the same genetic makeup .

The potential to mass-produce BioSteel is a main reason the animals were cloned in the first place.

Mr. Turner says that BioSteel is the strongest substance known to man, with a tensile strength of 300,000 pounds per square inch. BioSteel is an artificial spider silk that is environmentally friendly, extremely strong and light, and compatible with the human body, says Mr. Turner.

The company hopes eventually to extract this spider silk from goat's milk. Turner said the company will soon clone a sheep with the spider-silk gene in its genetic makeup.

In the past year , the company tried injecting a spider-silk gene directly into the goat. But that system wasn't efficient enough. It worked on only four goats in a hundred.

The new method could have close to a 100-per-cent success rate.

Next year the company will clone another goat that will carry the spider-silk gene in its chromosomes . The silk protein can be extracted from the goat when it starts to produce milk.

Turner said Nexia will clone only about three or four goats with the spider-silk protein. They can then reproduce with normal goats, and their offspring will still have the spider-silk gene in their bodies.

But Clint, Arnold and Danny aren't making everyone happy . Some animal-rights activists and ethicists oppose the concept of cloning living beings .

Professor Margaret Somerville says she does not agree with cloning for the purposes of creating a superior race of animals - such as faster race horses or stronger elephants. However, she sees an argument in cloning animals "for valid, justified purposes."

The debate around cloning animals, food products and even human beings is growing all across the world.

It means that lawmakers are having to sit down to decide what should be allowed, and what should be made illegal.

1. What has a Montreal biotechnology firm successfully cloned?