This summer when you go to the grocery for steaks to grill, you may not know if the meat came from the offspring of a cloned cow. That’s because on Tuesday the FDA decided that meat and dairy products from cloned cattle, pigs and goats are safe for consumption.
The idea of food products that come from cloned animals is unappealing to some local grocers. Steve Parkes of the Newleaf Natural Grocery in Rogers Park said his store would not carry such products. “We do only organic certified dairy,” he said. “People come into our store expecting to find things that are healthy.”
He said he is concerned that cloning technology hasn’t been around long enough for scientists to know all the side effects it might have. “Do customers want to become guinea pigs?” he asked. “I would guess not. I don’t.”
Cloned meat still cannot be certified as organic, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
However, grocers might have a hard time determining whether other food products come from cloned animals. There will be no required labeling or additional safety measures beyond what is already standard for conventionally bred animals, according to the FDA. This is because “food from these sources is no different from food derived from conventionally bred animals,” the FDA advised in the Tuesday ruling.
Requests to the FDA by producers for voluntary labeling to ensure that “this product is clone-free,” will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
Even though the FDA is not requiring labeling, Whole Foods is sticking with its policy against cloned meat, according to spokeswoman Kate Klotz. She said that the grocery chains relationship with its suppliers will allow it to keep cloned meats out of stores. "They wouldnt offer that to us without our knowledge," Klotz said.
The FDA risk assessment that was released Tuesday reported that the hazards from clones to consumers are no different from those of other assisted reproductive technologies, such as artificial insemination or in vitro fertilization. The FDA found no risks that are unique to clones and concluded that, as a result, screening of the clones could be similar to safety screens for traditionally bred livestock.
“There are no additional risks to people eating food from cattle, swine and goat clones or the offspring of any animal clones traditionally consumed as food,” said FDA spokesman Michael Herndon. He said that scientists from the Center for Veterinary Medicine, a branch of the FDA, studied hundreds of published reports to evaluate the safety of food from cloned animals before the FDA released its findings.
The Center for Food Safety, a non-profit public interest group, has opposed a hasty introduction of cloning into the food supply. “If they want to put it on our plate they need to fix it,” said Jaydee Hanson, a policy analyst at the Center for Food Safety on Monday, before the FDA decision was announced. He said the success rate in raising cloned animals to maturity isn’t high enough to bring the product to consumers, and that current data on the subject is inadequate.
“Whether they can fix it or not, I’m not certain," he said. "They really need to have the kind of review you would have for a new drug.” He also said that last week’s EFSA report has many of the same flaws that his group criticized in a preliminary FDA report released in 2006.
The Center for Food Safety issued a press release Tuesday arguing against the FDA’s decision, citing a 2006 opinion poll by the Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology that found that nearly two-thirds of Americans were uncomfortable with eating cloned foods.
The FDA report comes on the heels of a similar report last week from the European Food Safety Authority, and is based on studies and analysis that have been ongoing since 2001. The conclusion excludes genetically engineered animals, which would involve the actual alteration of DNA.
Because cloned animals such as cows and sheep are expensive, ranging from about $15,000 to $25,000 each, they are expected to be used mainly for breeding. That is, the clones themselves will not generally be sold as food, but their offspring will.
According to the FDA, cloning will allow herd owners to quickly introduce the traits they want, in the hope that this will lead to consistently high-quality meat and dairy products.
Source: Medill Reports - Chicago, Northwestern University - by Lisa Watson
Jan 15, 2008
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