Clones for Supper?

By Pamela Mortimer

A report from the FDA has determined that healthy cloned animals are safe for human consumption. In fact, the 938 page report states that cloned animals are as safe as ordinary animals. This report has effectively removed the U.S. regulatory barrier against the marketing of milk and meat from cloned pigs, goats, and cattle.

The "final risk assessment" has not been released yet but the Washington Post has obtained a copy. The Post has found no evidence to support opponents' concerns that by-products from cloned animals may harbor hidden risks.

Why is the report so long? In an attempt to ease the minds of consumers who are wary of food from clones, the agency report has included hundreds of pages of raw data so people can see how it came to its conclusions. I think I’ll run out and get a copy.

The report also acknowledges that there are health concerns but that they are not the only issues raised by the rise in cloned farm animals.
"Moral, religious and ethical concerns . . . have been raised," the agency notes in an addendum to the report. However, the risk assessment is "strictly a science-based evaluation" because the agency is not authorized by law to consider those issues outside the scientific realm.

While the study has approved the use of clones, it will be years before the byproducts of these animals grace the supermarket shelves, partly because the animals are currently too valuable to slaughter and will be used to breed a new generation of supposedly superior farm animals.

Some expect the public to have strong opinions about the cloned farm animals. FDA officials have stated that they do not expect to require food from cloned animals to be labeled as such. However, they may allow foods from ordinary animals to be labeled as natural or not from clones. Does that seem backward to anyone else?

Opponents of this decision, as well as those who are concerned for the clones themselves, have expressed their dismay regarding the FDA's intentions.

One advocacy group, the Center for Food Safety, who had petitioned the FDA to restrict the sale of cloned byproducts, is considering legal action.

"One of the amazing things about this," said Joseph Mendelson, CFS legal director, "is that at a time when we have a readily acknowledged crisis in our food safety system, the FDA is spending its resources and energy and political capital on releasing a safety assessment for something that no one but a handful of companies wants."