FDA declares cloning safe
clones pose no increased risk to consumers. Commercialisation may
be a problem however as the public remain unconvinced.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) claims that healthy animal clones and their offspring pose no increased risk to consumers. The agency may have a fight on their hands to approve commercialisation however as the public remain unconvinced.
"Every poll shows the public is extremely leery of animal cloning, even if the science is there, there is concern over the moral and ethical issues," said Carol Tucker Foreman, food policy director for the Consumer Federation of America.
The FDA's findings bring the agency one step closer to determining whether to give the go ahead for the commercialisation of food from cloned animals. The report reads that, "edible products from normal, healthy clones or their progeny do not appear to pose increased food consumption risk."
Biotech companies clone animals by taking the nuclei of cells from adults and fusing them into other egg cells from which the nuclei have been extracted. Hundreds of cattle and hogs have already been cloned for food companies to sell.
Smithfield Foods, the leading US pork producer, has already shown an interest in selling meat from cloned animals and has a technology development contract with Texas-based ViaGen.
Cloned or genetically identical animals such as cattle, hogs and chickens can be bred to provide more milk and eggs than animals that are naturally reproduced. Researchers can also enhance the nutritional value of food and lower cholesterol in eggs and meat by the same method.
If the FDA is to go ahead with commercialisation it is not expected to require labeling for cloned food. Concern however has been raised by some consumer advocates who believe the public have a right to know.
"There are still questions about whether cloning causes significant changes in the nutritional value of milk and meat, such products should be labeled," said Joe Mendelson, legal director of the Center for Food Safety.
Earlier this year, Japan also declared it had found no abnormalities in meat or milk from cloned animals, but called for the creation of a system to deal with problems that might arise.
The FSA 12-page executive summary is expected to be released later today with the entire report due at a later date. with A final policy decision is expected next year.
