Cloned animals safe to eat, concludes FDA
Updated Tue. Jan. 15 2008 3:14 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
Meat and milk from cloned animals is as safe as that from "normal" animals, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has concluded in a 900-plus page safety report.
The FDA says the data show that the meat and milk from cattle, swine and goat clones "are as safe as food we eat every day."
"After years of detailed study and analysis, the Food and Drug Administration has concluded that meat and milk from clones of cattle, swine, and goats, and the offspring of clones from any species traditionally consumed as food, are as safe to eat as food from conventionally bred animals," the agency said in a statement Tuesday.
They noted that their report was limited to cows, pigs and goats; they didn't have enough data to comment on the safety of food from clones of other animal species, such as sheep.
U.S. producers agreed back in 2001 to not bring meat or milk from clones into the food supply, until the FDA could further evaluate the issue. With this report, the last U.S. regulatory hurdle to marketing cloned meat and milk products is now removed.
The Biotechnology Industry Organization applauded the FDA decision in a statement on their website. It says cloning "can effectively help livestock producers deliver what consumers want: high-quality, safe, abundant and nutritious foods in a consistent manner."
But it'll likely be years before consumers can find foods from cloned animals on store shelves. That's because the costs of cloning still make it economically unfeasible.
Nevertheless, the FDA is preparing for the day when manufacturers will want to market meat and milk from cloned animals. It says the first step will be to determine how to phase out the existing voluntary moratorium.
For now, the FDA is asking cloning companies, such as Viagen Inc. and Trans Ova Genetics, to continue the moratorium a little longer, to allow consumers to adjust to the concept.
Several large companies have said they have no plans to sell milk or meat from cloned animals because of consumer anxiety about the technology.
The FDA says that when the market is ready for cloned meat and dairy, it will not require special labeling or other additional measures, "because food derived from these sources is no different from food derived from conventionally bred animals."
It also notes that it is unlikely that the meat and milk from cloned animals will be available for sale in any significant amount; instead, it will likely come from the offspring of those animals. That's because clones would be used for breeding, while their sexually reproduced offspring would be used for producing meat and milk for the marketplace.
Clones would likely be used primarily as breeding animals to introduce desirable traits into herds more rapidly than would be possible using conventional breeding.
As for Canada, a spokesman for Health Canada said there are currently no foods from cloned animals approved for sale in Canada.
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Don't think I'd like to eat Cloned protein products.It like where heading into the realm of Science Fiction, like in the movie "Blade Runner" when they cloned Humans for work.
I think theres got to be something unhealthy about eating cloned animals, I'd like at lest to be informed or notified on the products I eat whether or not they are cloned.
The F.D.A are not saying why they have to do this, do you get the feeling this is being forced down our throats? Why would the government in the U.S.A be turning to unconventional meat and produce for consumption, is there something wrong with conventional methods of producing meat and produce ?
I think I know what it is....TERRORISM....Not terrorism perse but our supplies might be vulnerable to terrorist attack.
See I remember reading a while back if terrorist wanted to hit the U.S or any of its allies, Sophisticated (or unsophisticated) terrorist need not detonated a nuclear bomb in a city or and other...vulgar displays of power. They could use subtle means. Attacking food supplies, like Meat and Produce. A terrorist could infect cows in the U.S.A with "Hoof and Mouth" disease.
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Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD, Latin binomial Aphtae epizooticae), sometimes called hoof-and-mouth disease, is a highly contagious and sometimes fatal viral disease of cattle and pigs. It can also infect deer, goats, sheep, and other bovids with cloven hooves, as well as elephants, rats, and hedgehogs. Humans are very rarely affected. Foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) is the prototypic member of the Aphthovirus genus in the Picornaviridae family. This picornavirus is the etiological agent of the acute systemic vesicular disease that affects cattle and other animals worldwide. It is a highly variable and transmissible virus.[1]
The cause of FMD was first shown to be viral in 1897 by Friedrich Loeffler. He passed the blood of an infected animal through a fine porcelain filter and found that the fluid that was collected could still cause the disease in healthy animals.
FMD occurs throughout much of the world, and whilst some countries have been free of FMD for some time, its wide host range and rapid spread represent cause for international concern. After World War II, the disease was widely distributed throughout the world. In 1996, endemic areas included Asia, Africa, and parts of South America; as of August 2007, Chile is disease free,[2] and Uruguay and Argentina have not had an outbreak since 2001. North America, Australia and Japan have been free of FMD for many years. New Zealand has never had a case of foot and mouth disease.[3] Most European countries have been recognized as disease free, and countries belonging to the European Union have stopped FMD vaccination.
However, in 2001, a serious outbreak of FMD in Britain resulted in the slaughter of many animals, the postponing of the general election for a month, and the cancellation of many sporting events and leisure activities such as the Isle of Man TT. Due to strict government policies on sale of livestock, disinfection of all persons leaving and entering farms and the cancellation of large events likely to be attended by farmers, a potentially economically disastrous epizootic was avoided in the Republic of Ireland[citation needed], with just one case recorded in Proleek, Co. Louth. In August 2007, FMD was found at two farms in Surrey, England. All livestock were culled and a quarantine erected over the area. There have since been two other suspected outbreaks, although these seem now not to be related to FMD.
Wikipedia.
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This Hoof and Mouth disease is supposed to be a real bummer for cattle and pigs, Humans can get it too, and are carriers for the disease infecting other cattle. The disease is probably bad for human consumption, in fact the disease is so contagious to cattle and such ,ranchers will probably have to destroy the whole heard just to stop the spread of it. So Hoof and Mouth disease could be a tool for terrorists, if they wanted to affect meat and food supplies for a city or even a Country like the U.S.
There have been outbreaks of Hoof and Mouth disease in the U.K, affecting cattle. I suspected there might be more to it than that for the poor Brits, but we weren't told in the media.
Now were being told in the U.S that we might be eating Cloned animals in the future. I think the the F.D.A knows that the terrorists might be interested in hitting food supplies in the U.S, and the 'Cats out of the bag", so to speak about "Hoof and Mouth disease".
Maybe President Bush and company aren't kidding about a terrorist threat to our Country. Then again maybe this is a response also to Human over-population, maybe foodresources are getting scarce.
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