Post by KNOWTHIS on Dec 28, 2006 11:14:09 GMT -5
Cloned Animals to be approved for consumption as for meat and milk etc.
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Food from cloned animals safe to eat, says FDA
The U.S. government says food from cloned animals is safe to eat and doesn't require any special labeling.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) indicated it would approve cloned livestock in a scientific journal article published online earlier this month, and is planning to brief industry groups in advance of an announcement this morning.
The FDA concluded that cloned animals are "virtually indistinguishable" from conventional livestock and that no identification is needed to judge their safety for the food supply.
"Meat and milk from clones and their progeny is as safe to eat as corresponding products derived from animals produced using contemporary agricultural practices," FDA scientists Larisa Rudenko and John C. Matheson wrote in the January 1 issue of Theriogenology.
A biotechnology expert says labels should only be used if the health characteristics of a food are significantly altered by how it is produced.
"The bottom line is, we don't want to misinform consumers with some sort of implied message of difference," Barb Glenn of the Biotechnology Industry Organization told The Associated Press.
"There is no difference. These foods are as safe as foods from animals that are raised conventionally."
Some consumer groups, however, insist on labels because the verdict is still out on the safety of food from cloned animals. Further, surveys have shown the public is uncomfortable with the idea of cloned livestock.
"Consumers are going to be having a product that has potential safety issues and has a whole load of ethical issues tied to it, without any labeling," Joseph Mendelson, legal director of the Center for Food Safety, told AP.
Carol Tucker Foreman, director of food policy at the Consumer Federation of America, alleged the FDA is turning a blind eye to research that shows cloning results in more deaths and deformed animals than other reproductive technologies.
She said the consumer federation will ask food companies and supermarkets to refuse to sell food from clones.
"Meat and milk from cloned animals have no benefit for consumers, and consumers don't want them in their foods," said Foreman.
Final approval of cloned animals for food is months away, although scientists with the FDA wrote that by the time clones reached six to 18 months of age, they were virtually indistinguishable from conventioanlly bred animals.
The FDA will accept comments from the public after issuing a draft risk assessment on Thursday.
Meanwhile, those in favor of cloning technology say it would be used primarily for breeding and not for steak or pork tenderloin. Cloning allowss farmers and ranchers make copies of exceptional animals, such as pigs that fatten rapidly or cows that are superior milk producers.
"It's not a genetically engineered animal; no genes have been changed or moved or deleted," Glenn said. "It's simply a genetic twin that we can then use for future matings to improve the overall health and well-being of the herd."
Consumers, therefore, would mostly get food from their offspring and not the clones themselves, added Glenn.
AP reports that some clones, however, would still eventually end up in the food supply. As with conventional livestock, a cloned bull or cow that has passed its useful years would probably end up at a hamburger plant and a cloned dairy cow would be milked during its breeding years.
But that is unlikely to happen soon since FDA officials, since 2001, have asked farmers and cloning companies to voluntarily keep clones and their offspring out of the food supply. The informal ban would remain in place for several months while FDA accepts comments from the public.
Some surveys have shown people are uncomfortable with food from cloned animals. In a September poll by the Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology, a nonpartisan research group, 64 per cent of those surveyed said they were uncomfortable with the idea.
link
Food from cloned animals safe to eat, says FDA
The U.S. government says food from cloned animals is safe to eat and doesn't require any special labeling.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) indicated it would approve cloned livestock in a scientific journal article published online earlier this month, and is planning to brief industry groups in advance of an announcement this morning.
The FDA concluded that cloned animals are "virtually indistinguishable" from conventional livestock and that no identification is needed to judge their safety for the food supply.
"Meat and milk from clones and their progeny is as safe to eat as corresponding products derived from animals produced using contemporary agricultural practices," FDA scientists Larisa Rudenko and John C. Matheson wrote in the January 1 issue of Theriogenology.
A biotechnology expert says labels should only be used if the health characteristics of a food are significantly altered by how it is produced.
"The bottom line is, we don't want to misinform consumers with some sort of implied message of difference," Barb Glenn of the Biotechnology Industry Organization told The Associated Press.
"There is no difference. These foods are as safe as foods from animals that are raised conventionally."
Some consumer groups, however, insist on labels because the verdict is still out on the safety of food from cloned animals. Further, surveys have shown the public is uncomfortable with the idea of cloned livestock.
"Consumers are going to be having a product that has potential safety issues and has a whole load of ethical issues tied to it, without any labeling," Joseph Mendelson, legal director of the Center for Food Safety, told AP.
Carol Tucker Foreman, director of food policy at the Consumer Federation of America, alleged the FDA is turning a blind eye to research that shows cloning results in more deaths and deformed animals than other reproductive technologies.
She said the consumer federation will ask food companies and supermarkets to refuse to sell food from clones.
"Meat and milk from cloned animals have no benefit for consumers, and consumers don't want them in their foods," said Foreman.
Final approval of cloned animals for food is months away, although scientists with the FDA wrote that by the time clones reached six to 18 months of age, they were virtually indistinguishable from conventioanlly bred animals.
The FDA will accept comments from the public after issuing a draft risk assessment on Thursday.
Meanwhile, those in favor of cloning technology say it would be used primarily for breeding and not for steak or pork tenderloin. Cloning allowss farmers and ranchers make copies of exceptional animals, such as pigs that fatten rapidly or cows that are superior milk producers.
"It's not a genetically engineered animal; no genes have been changed or moved or deleted," Glenn said. "It's simply a genetic twin that we can then use for future matings to improve the overall health and well-being of the herd."
Consumers, therefore, would mostly get food from their offspring and not the clones themselves, added Glenn.
AP reports that some clones, however, would still eventually end up in the food supply. As with conventional livestock, a cloned bull or cow that has passed its useful years would probably end up at a hamburger plant and a cloned dairy cow would be milked during its breeding years.
But that is unlikely to happen soon since FDA officials, since 2001, have asked farmers and cloning companies to voluntarily keep clones and their offspring out of the food supply. The informal ban would remain in place for several months while FDA accepts comments from the public.
Some surveys have shown people are uncomfortable with food from cloned animals. In a September poll by the Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology, a nonpartisan research group, 64 per cent of those surveyed said they were uncomfortable with the idea.