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USA – MEAT, MILK FROM CLONES TO BE APPROVED?
FDA is set to approve milk, meat from clones
17 October 2006. Source: Washington Post
Rick Weiss - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/16/AR2006101601337.html
Three years after the Food and Drug Administration first hinted that it might permit the sale of milk and meat from cloned animals, prompting public reactions that ranged from curiosity to disgust, the agency is, according to this story, poised to endorse marketing of the mass-produced animals for public consumption.
The decision, expected by the end of this year, is based largely on new data indicating that milk and meat from cloned livestock and their offspring pose no unique risks to consumers.
Stephen F. Sundlof, the FDA's chief of veterinary medicine, who has overseen the long-stalled risk assessment, was quoted as saying, "Our evaluation is that the food from cloned animals is as safe as the food we eat every day."
Farmers and companies that have been growing cloned barnyard animals from single cells in anticipation of a lucrative market were cited as saying cloning will bring consumers a level of consistency and quality impossible to attain with conventional breeding, making perfectly marbled beef and reliably lean and tasty pork the norm on grocery shelves.
But groups opposed to the new technology, including a coalition of powerful food companies concerned that the public will reject Dolly-the-Lamb chops and clonal cream in their coffee, have not given up.
USA – GROUP URGES CLONE PRODUCT BAN
Groups say FDA should ban sale of food from clones
12 October 2006. Source: Reuters
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=&storyid=2006-10-13T131853Z_01_N12375395_RTRUKOC_0_US-FOOD-CLONING-FDA.xml&src=nl_ushealth1100
Citing public health, ethical and animal cruelty concerns, consumer and religious groups have urged federal regulators to issue a moratorium on the introduction of food made from cloned animals.
In a petition to the US Food and Drug Administration, the Center for Food Safety, the Humane Society of the United States and others said there is still too much uncertainty over the safety of food from cloned animals.
"Cloning is completely unnecessary and will increase animal cruelty in food production, yet the industry wants to test their cloned foods on the American public," said Joseph Mendelson, legal Director for the Center for Food Safety.
The advocacy groups want FDA to require health and environmental reviews before allowing food from cloned animals to be sold. A blue ribbon panel also should be established to review the ethical issues tied to animal cloning.
Additionally, they asked the agency to regulate cloned animals as "new animal drugs," using the argument that processors are making changes that affect the body of the animal.
At present, selling food made from cloned animals is not approved in the United States.
The FDA in October 2003 issued a draft risk assessment saying food from cloned animals and their offspring was as safe as conventional food. But an FDA panel later urged more research into the new technology, delaying a final decision which has yet to be made.
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