FDA to Back Food From Cloned Animals-Move Would Defy Congress's Wish for Delay

Washington Post ^ | 05 Jan 2008 | Rick Weiss

[BGHater]

Having completed a years-long scientific review, the Food and Drug Administration is set to announce as early as next week that meat and milk from cloned farm animals and their offspring can start making their way toward supermarket shelves, sources in contact with the agency said yesterday.

The decision would be a notable act of defiance against Congress, which last month passed appropriations legislation recommending that any such approval be delayed pending further studies. Moreover, the Senate version of the Farm bill, yet to be reconciled with the House version, contains stronger, binding language that would block FDA action on cloned food, probably for years.

With a conference committee poised to finalize the farm bill in the next few weeks, that left the FDA a potentially narrow time frame within which to act if it wanted to settle the issue in sync with America's major meat-trading partners.

New Zealand and Australia have released reports concluding that meat and milk from clones are safe. Canada and Argentina are reportedly close to doing the same.

And although European consumers are generally uncomfortable with agricultural biotechnology, the European Union's food safety agency is expected to endorse the safety of meat and milk from clones in a draft statement that could be released within the next week.

"The science seems to be leading them and us to the same conclusion," said a U.S. trade official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because U.S. policy is technically still under review.

[BGHater]

        

Cows such as Diamond, above front, who was cloned from naturally born Jewel, rear, could within a few years provide meat and milk to U.S. consumers as the Food and Drug Administration is expected to declare products from them and their offspring to be safe. The public has not reacted favorably to the idea, and Congress wants further study. At right, cell culture work takes place at ViaGen, which provided many animals that researchers studied for the FDA. (Viagen Via Bloomberg News)

[DB]

So why would cloning make any difference at all???

[Clintonfatigued]

This may not cover lifestyle issues, but it may be a moral absolute. I wouldn’t want to eat clone meat. No telling if there’s a health hazard.

[Zuben Elgenubi]

We don’t need no stinkin’ clones.

[GovernmentIsTheProblem]

Not for me!

I will stick to the natural stuff.

[TBall]

I don’t understand how this can be. The FDA makes small biotech companies go through years and years of exhaustive cost prohibitive lab trials before they can even experiment a new drug on the sickest of patients. Yet the American public is going to be allowed to consume cloned animals after “a years-long scientific review.” It gets stranger and stranger by the day.

[BGHater]

Farming; Genie out of the bottle ping.

[goodnesswins]

"the Food and Drug Administration is expected to declare products from them and their offspring to be safe."

let's all bow down to the FDA....

[org.whodat]

I will stick to the natural stuff.

LOL

[org.whodat]

Have you been in the ten foil hat business very long. This decision should really stimulate business.

[dandelion]

I believe the real danger from cloning agricultural animals or plants is not with the end products, but to the producers of the products. The complete lack of genetic diversity in cattle, poultry and swine herds - or any crop - will be VERY dangerous in the event of any outbreak of disease.

Without genetic diversity, our food supply could be devastated in one fell swoop; it is reckless to rely on any ONE genetic type for all our meat, milk, eggs or produce...

[TBall]

Yeah and if its not good for business then its just worthless.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18924801/

[Arthur McGowan]

Of all the troglodytic, Luddite, illiterate fears anybody could have, fear of cloned or genetically-engineered food ranks up there with fear of “radiation” from a microwave, or fear of tightly-wound Victrolas. (Thurber wrote about an aunt who was afraid that her Victrola was going to explode at any moment, since she didn’t understand what its source of energy was.)

Whatever DNA there is any anything we eat never gets into our own cells. There is no more chance of genetic damage from eating these foods than there is of getting cholesterol from a light bulb.

[tickmeister]

You are absolutely right, unintended consequences never occur.

Just kidding of course, but you miss the point. I have no fear of eating any of this stuff, clones or otherwise. I am a little sceptical about reductions of genetic diversity, susceptibility to disease in the livestock, unforseen results of genetic modifications released into the biosphere, etc. Sort of like the genius that decided to import Kudzu as ground cover.

Besides, what the hell is the point. It ain’t like cattle can’t reproduce.

[DB]

That makes sense. Thank you.

[Arthur McGowan]

That’s the part I don’t understand. Seems silly to spend so much money for something the cattle are happy to do for themselves.