I was not happy to find out that we may be consuming cloned products and the FDA is not going to make it official that manufactures must place labels specifing the product is cloned. I think I will now stick to all organic beef and stay away from corn product. I'll turn to wheat. I do not trust the government or anyone who approves of this. Very little research has been done on this and yet it is being approved. One kind of wonders what type of new diseases will be formed. Just think how rich the drug companies and the health insurances will become because of this. What a conspiracy theory this would make!Below is an article I found which is worth reading.
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Cloning promises many benefits, not least through replicating embryonic stem cells, which may be used to repair and replace organs. Though this is a vexed issue politically, a bill currently under debate in the Senate would allow the use of "somatic cell nuclear transfer" (or cloning) in taking genetic information from human embryonic stem cells and implanting it in other cells for therapeutic purposes.
The same process, used for reproductive ends, results in cloned animals. Yet the outcomes aren't always as hoped. Consider Chance, a sweet, Ferdinand-like bull first reported on in This American Life, whose owner, distraught at the bull's death, had the animal cloned only to be gored by Second Chance. So it's fair to say that the cattle industry is on the horns of a dilemma, facing a reticent public, according to a 2006 poll by the industry-supported International Food Information Council (IFIC), which found that 59 percent of respondents wouldn't buy foods from cloned animals or their offspring even if the FDA said it was safe. Only 16 percent of U.S. adults hold a favorable impression of animal cloning. The industry has been careful to maintain a voluntary ban on selling cloned animal foods, though IFIC's website states that "cloning allows farmers and ranchers to reproduce the most productive, healthiest animals."
The voluntary moratorium on food from cloned animals still stands, but the day of its retirement may be fast approaching. Last December, FDA announced that its peer-reviewed risk assessment on the safety of meat and milk from cloned pigs, cattle and goats had determined that these foods were as safe as those from non-cloned animals and fit for human consumption. Due to lack of information, the FDA recommended against eating food products from sheep clones. Currently, the FDA is accepting public comments on their risk assessment, management plan and draft industry guidance and have extended the comment period by a month. Meanwhile, the European Union, recognizing that member countries may find themselves importing meat from cloned animals (or the descendents of those animals), have assigned the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) the task of determining not only the safety of food from cloned animals but what effect they might have on the environment.
With the public evidently concerned about cloned food, vocal criticisms of the FDA's report followed quickly. In late March, the non-profit Center for Food Safety (CFS) challenged the FDA's position, noting that there will be no labeling for food derived from clones and that cloning can result in the deaths of cows, high percentages of failed pregnancies and on-going health problems for the clone. While CFS also warns about the loss of genetic differences that may make more animals vulnerable to disease, Greg Jaffe, director of Center for Science in the Public Interest's biotechnology project, notes that since one bull may father a thousand calves, "we are currently really reducing the biodiversity of livestock." Jaffe suggests that cloning may even increase the biodiversity of cattle if genes that fight against bovine spongiform encephalopathy ("mad cow" disease) and other ailments can be spread to vulnerable animals.
In the pork industry, on the other hand, cloning may not even end up as much of an issue. "Cloning is extremely expensive compared to natural mating," says Mark Boggess, Ph.D., director of animal science at the National Pork Board, adding, "If you have a boar that you might want to clone, through our breeding programs that boar already has sons that are as good or better." Pigs have such a high reproductive rate over such a short interval, Boggess says the incentive is much less than in cattle.
Even with organic foods, there is a chance that cloning may be allowed, since other reproductive techniques such as in vitro fertilization are accepted by the USDA's National Organic Program. Cloning isn't explicitly forbidden under the USDA's organic standards and an advisory panel for the Department of Agriculture will consider the issue this spring.
The same process, used for reproductive ends, results in cloned animals. Yet the outcomes aren't always as hoped. Consider Chance, a sweet, Ferdinand-like bull first reported on in This American Life, whose owner, distraught at the bull's death, had the animal cloned only to be gored by Second Chance. So it's fair to say that the cattle industry is on the horns of a dilemma, facing a reticent public, according to a 2006 poll by the industry-supported International Food Information Council (IFIC), which found that 59 percent of respondents wouldn't buy foods from cloned animals or their offspring even if the FDA said it was safe. Only 16 percent of U.S. adults hold a favorable impression of animal cloning. The industry has been careful to maintain a voluntary ban on selling cloned animal foods, though IFIC's website states that "cloning allows farmers and ranchers to reproduce the most productive, healthiest animals."
The voluntary moratorium on food from cloned animals still stands, but the day of its retirement may be fast approaching. Last December, FDA announced that its peer-reviewed risk assessment on the safety of meat and milk from cloned pigs, cattle and goats had determined that these foods were as safe as those from non-cloned animals and fit for human consumption. Due to lack of information, the FDA recommended against eating food products from sheep clones. Currently, the FDA is accepting public comments on their risk assessment, management plan and draft industry guidance and have extended the comment period by a month. Meanwhile, the European Union, recognizing that member countries may find themselves importing meat from cloned animals (or the descendents of those animals), have assigned the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) the task of determining not only the safety of food from cloned animals but what effect they might have on the environment.
With the public evidently concerned about cloned food, vocal criticisms of the FDA's report followed quickly. In late March, the non-profit Center for Food Safety (CFS) challenged the FDA's position, noting that there will be no labeling for food derived from clones and that cloning can result in the deaths of cows, high percentages of failed pregnancies and on-going health problems for the clone. While CFS also warns about the loss of genetic differences that may make more animals vulnerable to disease, Greg Jaffe, director of Center for Science in the Public Interest's biotechnology project, notes that since one bull may father a thousand calves, "we are currently really reducing the biodiversity of livestock." Jaffe suggests that cloning may even increase the biodiversity of cattle if genes that fight against bovine spongiform encephalopathy ("mad cow" disease) and other ailments can be spread to vulnerable animals.
In the pork industry, on the other hand, cloning may not even end up as much of an issue. "Cloning is extremely expensive compared to natural mating," says Mark Boggess, Ph.D., director of animal science at the National Pork Board, adding, "If you have a boar that you might want to clone, through our breeding programs that boar already has sons that are as good or better." Pigs have such a high reproductive rate over such a short interval, Boggess says the incentive is much less than in cattle.
Even with organic foods, there is a chance that cloning may be allowed, since other reproductive techniques such as in vitro fertilization are accepted by the USDA's National Organic Program. Cloning isn't explicitly forbidden under the USDA's organic standards and an advisory panel for the Department of Agriculture will consider the issue this spring.
