FDA OKs cloned livestock

Food products made from cloned animals are
now considered safe to eat, according to a statement
released by the Food and Drug Administration in
late December.

The approval of this new generation of “superior
farm animals” to be bred and sold for the food market
has prompted a gamut of reactions in Richmond.

“It makes me feel scared,” said Deborah South,
a 20-year-old waitress at the Village Café on West
Grace Street. “I don’t know what the future holds
in that technology. It’s going against the natural
order of things.”

The European Group on Ethics in Science and
New Technologies, which advises the European
Commission, is required by law to consider the
ethical criteria in approving new foods.

In a report, the group stated that cloned farm
animals have an abnormally high prenatal death rate.
There also has been a higher prevalence of birthing
complications, which have sometimes led to the
euthanization of the clones’ surrogate mothers.

“There may be no problems from eating this
stuff, but there are problems producing it – ethical
problems that are very important,” said Joyce D’Silva,
representative of the international farm-animal welfare
organization, Compassion in World Farming.

“At present the European Group on Ethics does
not see convincing arguments to justify the production
of food from clones or their offspring,” stated a
report released earlier this year by
the Center for Food Safety.

But not everyone is crying over
cloned milk. Paul Cruser, coowner
of Butcher’s Block Market in
Oilville, Va., said he sees a benefit
in artificially
reproducing
some of the best
cattle, sheep and
other barnyard
eats.

“I have no
objection. I’m all
for providing a
variety and consistent
product,”
Cruser said. “I think giving the
consumers more choices is always
to their benefit . that as long as
the FDA approves it, it should be
acceptable.”

Currently, the FDA does not
require products from clones to be
labeled, because they have no apparent
difference from conventionally
bred animals. However, producers
can ask for voluntary labeling, such
as “this product is clone-free,” to
be placed on non-cloned meat and
other products.

Barbara Glenn, director of animal
biotechnology at the Biotechnology
Industry Organization, takes
the side of nutrition. Glenn said
she thinks the
quality of food
should affect the
g o v e r nme n t ‘ s
decision.

“As long as
there is hunger
. Animal cloning
is one of the
tools to allow
f a r m e r s a n d
ranchers to continue to produce
the healthier livestock that produce
healthy foods,” Glenn said in a
Washington Post article, Jan. 18,
about the ethics of cloned food.

And without required labeling, it
is unclear whether cloned food could
soon appear on people’s plates.

“I wouldn’t doubt it (at) all,” said
VCU student Sam Ebdel Halim. “I
could be eating cloned meat right
now in Shafer (Dining Center).”