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Researchers
have been cloning livestock species since 1996, starting with the
famous sheep named Dolly. Clones may allow farmers to upgrade the
quality of their herds by providing more copies of their best animals
regarding resistance to disease, high milk production or quality
meat production. These animal clones are then used for conventional
breeding, and their sexually reproduced offspring become the food-producing
animals. Most animal cloning today uses a process called Somatic
cell nuclear transfer, which involves adding the nucleus (containing
the genetic material) of a cell from an animal, the breeder wishes
to copy, to an egg from a female animal after removing its gene
containing nucleus. After other steps in the lab, the egg cell begins
to form into an embryo which will be implanted in the uterus of
a surrogate female parent. After many years of studying hundreds
of published reports and other detailed information on clones of
livestock animals to evaluate the safety of food from these animals,
the FDA released a report called a risk assessment on January 2008
concluding that meat and milk from cattle, swine, and goat clones
and their offspring are as safe as food we eat every day, that there
is no science-based reason to require food labels to distinguish
between products from clones and products from conventionally produced
animals and that cloning poses no unique risk to animal health,
compared to risks found with other reproduction methods, including
natural mating.
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On
the other hand, Europe has yet to take position on the technology
as far as cloning of animals for food is concerned. The European commission
asked the European Food Safety Authority for more in-depth scientific
advice. EU regulators will discuss again in a few months whether to
allow meat and milk products from cloned animals into the food chain,
despite local consumer opposition and inconclusive data.
EU law requires clone-derived
food to be safety evaluated as a "novel food" and approved by all
27 EU member states before being sold.
A ban, if not properly
justified could lead to problems for the EU at the World Trade Organization.
Many consumers and religious
groups strongly oppose the technology. Also, the European Group
on Ethics in Science and Technology doubts whether cloning animals
is ethically justified.
More information could
be found at: www.fda.gov/consumer/udates/cloning011508.html www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/jun/06/
foodtech.food www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/
idUSTRE50757W20090130
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