Clones' offspring may be in US food supply

Reuters ^ | September 2, 2008 | Christopher Doering

[Pinkbell]

- Food and milk from the offspring of cloned animals may already have entered the U.S. food supply, the Food and Drug Administration said on Tuesday, but it would be impossible to know because there is no difference between cloned and conventional products.

The FDA said in January meat and milk from cloned cattle, swine and goats and their offspring were as safe to eat as products obtained from traditional animals. Before then, farmers and ranchers had followed a voluntary moratorium that prevented the sale of clones and their offspring.

"It is theoretically possible" offspring from clones are in the food supply, said Siobhan DeLancey, an FDA spokeswoman.

Proponents, including the Biotechnology Industry Organization, say cloned animals are safe and a way to create animals that produce more milk and better meat and are more disease-resistant. There are currently an estimated 600 cloned animals in the United States.

The small cloning industry and the FDA have maintained cloned animals and their offspring are as safe as their regular counterparts. Cloning animals involves taking the nuclei of cells from adults and fusing them into egg cells that are implanted into a surrogate mother.

FDA and the U.S. Agriculture Department have said it is impossible to differentiate between cloned animals, their offspring and conventionally bred animals, making it difficult to know if offspring are in the food supply.

"But they would be a very limited number because of the very few number of clones that are out there and relatively few of those clones are at an age where they would be parenting," said Bruce Knight, USDA's undersecretary for marketing and regulatory programs.

[Tax-chick]

They’re dead. They’re cooked. Eat ‘em.

[grey_whiskers]

Are those suits where are the melamine in the food supply is coming from?

Cheers!

[Tax-chick]

LOL!

[MyTwoCopperCoins]

A prion is a chemical (protein) that cannot be destroyed easily by cooking or even radiation. If prions enter the human food chain, they cause the Mad Cow disease.

I'm not saying one is related to the other, but what is the guarantee that clones do not have mutations producing prions in them, knowing in advance the fact that clones are genetically “stressed” as-is?

[Tax-chick]

They appear not to be cloning chickens.

I honestly don’t see clones as being more likely to mutate to Mad Cow Disease than any other critters. All food animals are stressed, unless you pay a fortune for organically-cuddled, free-range meat or have wild swine in your woods.

[dr_who]

Proof that the the MSM is populated by kooks.

[abercrombie_guy_38]

I’ll make sure to skip the products of companies suspected of selling cloned meat.