Food from Clones has Questionable Benefits, Certain Drawbacks
Just this week, the Food and Drug Administration announced it
intends to lift a voluntary moratorium on selling products from
cloned animals to consumers. The Union of Concerned Scientists
is urging FDA to conduct a more comprehensive safety review of
food products from cloned animals and their offspring and
develop a labeling system for cloned food if it is allowed to
market. The potential gains from cloning particularly productive
animals come at the expense of a potential increase in animal
suffering. Most attempted clones are grossly defective and are
lost early in development (cloning success rates generally range
from zero to 20 percent). Defects among cloned animals include
overly large fetuses, placental disorders and inflammation of
the brain and spinal cord. Although defects occur at a higher
rate among cloned animals than with other assisted reproductive
technologies, FDA dismissed animal health concerns because the
defects are not uniqu