FDA Says Cloned Animals Safe As Food Meat and milk from cloned animals are as safe as that from their counterparts bred the old-fashioned way, the Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday — but sales still won't begin right away. The decision removes the last big U.S. regulatory hurdle to marketing products from cloned livestock, and puts the FDA in concert with recent safety assessments from European food regulators and several other nations. "Meat and milk from cattle, swine and goat clones are as safe as food we eat every day," said Dr. Stephen Sundloff, FDA's food safety chief. But the government has asked animal cloning companies to continue a voluntary moratorium on sales for a little longer — not for safety reasons, but marketing ones. USDA Undersecretary Bruce Knight called it a transition period for "allowing the marketplace to adjust." He wouldn't say how long the moratorium should continue. "This is about market acceptance," Knight added, who said he would be calling a meeting of industry leaders to determine next steps. Regardless, it still will be years before many foods from cloned animals reach store shelves, for economic reasons: At $10,000 to $20,000 per animal, they're a lot more expensive than ordinary cows, meaning producers likely will use clones' offspring for meat, not the clone itself....
Long study led to US cloned food safety decision Cloned animals may often be born deformed and die young but scientists, who have looked at every aspect of their biology to try to explain why, can find no evidence that it would be dangerous to eat them. None of the more than 700 studies reviewed in detail showed any evidence to suggest that milk or organ or muscle tissue from cloned animals could harm someone who ate it, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said in its final report on the subject on Tuesday. "We have actually done a more in-depth analysis of the meat from cloned animals than has been done ever," said Mark Walton, president of Texas-based farm animal cloning firm ViaGen. In 2002, a National Academy of Sciences panel said there was no reason to believe that meat or milk from cloned animals may be unsafe. But it said the FDA should do a review, and because of the outpouring of opinions and fears about the subject, the agency extended its review for more than a year. Cloned calves have died from respiratory, digestive, circulatory, nervous, muscular and skeletal abnormalities, as well as because they had abnormal placentas, the FDA noted. And researchers have looked at all the possible causes of these abnormalities -- changes in the genes, in other parts of DNA that affect what genes do and the process of cloning itself....
Cloned meat may be safe, but will consumers eat it? While cloning of meat-producing animals was deemed safe by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday, it may be consumers who determine how widely it is used. "The big issue is consumer acceptance. Even if USDA and FDA issue a statement, the final arbiter, whether it will be allowed in the market, is consumer acceptance," said Jacinto Fabiosa, co-director and livestock analyst at the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Center in Ames, Iowa. Cloning has been around for years -- Dolly the cloned sheep was born in 1996 -- but the FDA's latest action now brings the technology close to the food supply. "The consumer reaction and the effect on exports markets - is the primary concern," said Mark Boggess, director of animal science for the National Pork Board. Consumers in the United States may be more accepting than those overseas. One example used was the opposition in Europe to crops that have been genetically modified (GMO) to protect against weeds or insects. "I don't think is as likely to be as significant as the GMO stuff has been, but it is real hard to figure out where consumers' reactions are going," said John Urbanchuk, a food economist with the global consulting firm LECG....
Don't expect that cloned burger right away Restaurants and supermarkets are girding for their own "Attack of the Clones," and it's no Star Wars episode. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration now says meat and milk from cloned cattle, pigs and other animals are safe for human consumption. For now, food items are not supposed to come directly from cloned animals - but only their offspring. And the food that comes from the offspring can be used for everything from the milkshakes served by restaurants to the steaks sold in supermarkets without any special labeling. But don't expect to find much food derived from clones any time soon at your neighborhood Ralphs supermarket -- or at many other stores and restaurants. It is going to take years to get into the food chain, and many retailers are already dead-set against it. "Our intention is not to accept cloned products from our suppliers," says Meghan Glynn, spokeswoman for Kroger Co., the Cincinnati-based owner of Ralphs, Food4Less and several other chains. Pleasanton-based Safeway Inc., the owner of Vons, said it supports continuing what has been a voluntary ban on the use of cloned animals for food. "We are not looking to offer any cloned products in our stores," said spokesman Brian Dowling. And California Pizza Kitchen, the 229-restaurant chain based in Los Angeles, says it "has no plans to provide our guests with cloned products."....
Cloned Meat and Milk Await an Official 'OK' Would you eat meat or drink milk derived from cloned animals? The question—long the stuff of science fiction—is now one that consumers need to consider seriously. The European Food Safety Authority announced Friday that it considers food from clones safe to eat. In the United States, meanwhile, the Food and Drug Administration is expected to lift a voluntary moratorium issued in 2001 on food products that come from livestock that originated in a petri dish. Companies selling the clones promote the animals' ability to provide superior offspring to livestock breeders, for example. U.S. News tracked down answers to some frequently asked questions about the issue. Is it safe to eat meat or milk from cloned animals? Food from cloned animals is safe for human consumption, the FDA declared last year. According to a supporting paper by scientists in the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine, none of the research reviewed had identified "any remarkable nutritionally or toxicologically important differences in the composition of the meat or milk." At the same time, however, the FDA did not give the stamp of approval for the sale of such products to the public. And groups such as the Center for Food Safety and the Union of Concerned Scientists are apprehensive about letting the goods into the food supply; they've called for long-term studies on the health effects in humans who consume the products. New Zealand and Australia, though, have already deemed such products safe, and other countries are expected to do the same....