The way the 19th century thinkers are holding it up, I'll probably be to old to care by the time she's delivered.
Posted on 12/30/2006 4:46:34 PM PST by FLOutdoorsman
WASHINGTON (AP) - Meat and milk from cloned animals may not appear in supermarkets for years despite being deemed by the government as safe to eat. But don't be surprised if "clone-free" labels appear sooner. Ben & Jerry's, for one, wants consumers to know that its ice cream comes from regular cows and not clones. The Ben & Jerry's label already says its farmers don't use bovine growth hormone.
"We want to make sure people are confident with what's in our pints," company spokesman Rob Michalak said. "We haven't yet landed on exactly how we want to express that publicly."
For food that does come from clones, the Food and Drug Administration is unlikely to require labels, officials said.
The FDA gave preliminary approval Thursday to meat and milk from cloned animals or their offspring. Federal scientists found virtually no difference between food from clones and food from conventional livestock.
The government believes "meat and milk from cattle, swine and goat clones is as safe to eat as the food we eat every day," said Stephen F. Sundlof, director of the FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine. Meat and milk from the offspring of clones is also safe, the agency concluded.
Officials said they did not have enough information to decide whether food from sheep clones is safe.
If food from clones is indistinguishable, FDA doesn't have the authority to require labels, Sundlof said.
Companies trying to distance themselves from cloning must be careful with their wording, he added.
"If the statement implies that that particular product might be safer than another product, FDA would not allow that," Sundlof said. "But there may be room for providing a contextual statement that is truthful and not misleading."
A dairy industry group said it's too early to use clone-free labels. The FDA is at least a year away from finalizing approval of food from clones.
"It really may be somewhat premature to be talking about a label when FDA said meat and milk won't be in the food supply in the foreseeable future," said Susan Ruland, spokeswoman for the International Dairy Foods Association.
She added that cloning is new and, so far, rarely used, while growth hormones have been in widespread use for more than a decade.
With members such as Kraft and Dannon, the association represents an industry worried about consumer reaction to cloning.
Surveys have shown most are uncomfortable with the idea of cloned livestock. Industry research shows overall sales could drop 15 percent once clones are allowed in the food supply.
"You hear a lot from the technology companies this week that this is a great technology - we're not hearing that yet from the people who would actually use it and the people who would sell the product," Ruland said.
For now, farmers and cloning companies are abiding by a voluntary ban on meat and milk from clones. The FDA said the informal ban would remain until its decision is final.
Critics want the final decision to include labels for food from clones.
Given the public's overwhelming discomfort over this issue, Congress also should consider whether disclosure and labeling requirements are appropriate for products from cloned animals."
"When they deny us mandatory labels, they don't just deny us the right to choose," said Andrew Kimbrell, executive director of the Center for Food Safety.
"They also deny our health professionals the ability to trace potential toxic or allergic reactions to this food," Kimbrell said. "It's bad enough they're making us guinea pigs. But when we have health effects, we won't be able to trace it."
In Congress, Rep. Rosa DeLauro, a Connecticut Democrat who heads a key agriculture spending subcommittee, said lawmakers should consider whether disclosure and labeling are appropriate for food from clones.
Jim Greenwood, president of the Biotechnology Industry Organization, said labeling meat from a clone would be as absurd as telling consumers that a steak was produced through artificial insemination, or by cows actually mating.
"None of that information would be useful to consumers," Greenwood said.
Federal scientists studied reams of data on the composition of meat and milk from clones and those of conventionally bred animals.
"You can't tell them apart," said L. Val Giddings, a vice president of BIO and a former Agriculture Department geneticist. "There is not an analytical, scientific test you can use to tell one from another. You just can't do it."
The cloning industry says the technology is latest in a series of reproductive tools for farmers and ranchers to help deliver the food consumers want. To produce a clone, the nucleus of a donor egg is removed and replaced with the DNA of a cow, pig or other animal. A tiny electric shock coaxes the egg to grow into a copy of the original animal.
Cloning companies say the technology would be used primarily for breeding and not for steak or pork tenderloin. Thus, consumers would mostly get food from their offspring and not from the clones themselves.
Still, some clones would eventually end up in the food supply. As with conventional livestock, a cloned bull or cow that outlived its usefulness would probably wind up at a hamburger plant, and a cloned dairy cow would be milked during her breeding years.
---
On the Net:
http://www.fda.gov/cvm/CloneRiskAssessment.htm
Anyway, I can't wait for the 'free market' to kill the companies that won't put if they were cloned or not.
Also, this comment stood out:
'Jim Greenwood, president of the Biotechnology Industry Organization, said labeling meat from a clone would be as absurd as telling consumers that a steak was produced through artificial insemination, or by cows actually mating.
"None of that information would be useful to consumers," Greenwood said.'
Thanks.
What about people? Should clones have automatic citizenship if they are assembled in laboratories on USA territory?
My wife and I discussed this today. Neither of us want to eat cloned meat so we'll be looking for labels that state the meat comes from non cloned animals.
I realize this meat won't be on the market for years but I'm willing to bet that a lot of folks will be looking for that non cloned label when it finaly does hit the market.
"Jim Greenwood, president of the Biotechnology Industry Organization, said labeling meat from a clone would be as absurd as telling consumers that a steak was produced through artificial insemination, or by cows actually mating.
"None of that information would be useful to consumers," Greenwood said. "
Pompus and arrogant come to mind, watch for falling stooge.
With all the other ridiculous labeling requirements already in force, the FDA won't be bothered to add cloning information labels? Let consumers make their own decisions.
Now, if we could just get some clone-free Democrats...
"ridiculous labeling requirements already in force,"
What labels are you so opposed to? The only ones that irritate me are never ending legal disclaimers.
I'm against that, too. Because the average uninformed idiot will avoid that label like the plague, and the food is harmless. It's like if we made people wear stickers that say "potential child molester." The person't not really dangerous and will never molest children, but they will suffer the stigma anyway. That's what you do when you put those stickers on harmless food. The result will set back scientific advances in food production.
Typical.
Why not put all the information out there, instead of the least amount. I would have not expected that here. Come on, the more info the better.
Just like the media, we need more news and information, not less.
I dont care what Ben and Jerry put on their Ice Cream. You wont see me eating liberal ice cream.
Since there's no difference I'll be looking for which is less expensive.
You're right. The problem is they'll raise the price on things labeled "not cloned," rather than offer a lower price for the cheaper to produce cloned product.
And I'm sure it will be a success. I'm just getting too old for new fangled ideas. Old dog, new tricks etc.
Why should they offer it for less money, in your opinion? How do you know the cloned product isn't superior?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.