Look out: FDA says cloned foods safe to eat

[Guest guest]

Look out: FDA says cloned foods safe to eat

 

An announcement late last month by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that

cloned animals are safe to eat has raised the hackles of citizens around the

country.

 

The FDA’s preliminary announcement makes it much more likely that cloned foods

and milk will reach our supermarkets soon. It is the first time a U.S.

regulatory agency has said that cloned animals are safe for human consumption.

Last year, the FDA asked companies to voluntarily refrain from selling cloned

meat or milk.

 

The Campaign believes that the FDA has not conducted enough research into

cloning to reach the conclusion that cloned animals are safe to eat. The agency

appears to be ignoring research by scientists who raise many concerns about the

fledgling technology.

 

In September 2002, for example, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

researchers found many abnormal genes in a study of cloned rats. In their

research, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, they

reported that almost 50 percent of the imprinted genes involved in the

development of the embryo were incorrectly expressed. “There is no reason in the

world to assume that any other mammal, including humans, would be different from

mice,” lead researcher Rudolf Jaenisch told the Reuters news service.

 

Other groups have weighed in against the FDA’s position as well. “As the body

responsible for protecting the safety of American citizens, FDA is morally

obliged to take a precautionary approach. Its knowledge must extend well beyond

short-term findings if milk, meat and other foods from cloned animals are to

enter the food system,” said Katherine DiMatteo, executive director of the

Organic Trade Association.

 

A decade ago, the FDA, despite much evidence to the contrary, determined that

genetically engineered foods are “substantially equivalent” to non-engineered

foods, and therefore do not need to be labeled. With its preliminary

announcement that cloned foods pose no greater risks than non-cloned foods, the

FDA appears likely to take the stance that cloned foods also do not need to be

labeled.

 

This month, several members of an FDA advisory panel of independent scientists

said the agency didn’t have enough data to reach its conclusions. An agency

spokesman said the FDA still believes food from cloned animals is safe, but

would take the panel’s concerns into consideration.

 

 

 

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