Cloned Cows Yummy and Safe

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GMW: Cloned Cows Yummy and Safe

" GM WATCH " <info

Tue, 12 Apr 2005 11:55:07 +0100

 

 

 

 

 

GM WATCH daily

http://www.gmwatch.org

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EXCERPT: Watchdog groups like Consumers Union worry the FDA's

animal-cloning regulations will mimic the agency's genetically

modified crops

protocol, which is voluntary. Biotech companies such as Monsanto

typically summarize information about their genetically modified corn

or wheat

for the FDA, but are not required to do so by law. The FDA does not

provide its own independent review.

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Cloned Cows Yummy and Safe

Kristen Philipkoski

 

Wired News

http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,67175,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_3

 

Cattle-cloning scientists at the University of Connecticut say milk and

meat from cloned animals are safe for human consumption.

 

The has been waiting for additional evidence on the safety of meat and

milk from cloned cows since a National Academy of Sciences report said

last year that while the food would not likely make anyone sick, more

research should be performed. The Connecticut researchers published

their results in a scientific journal on Monday.

 

Companies like ViaGen, a subsidiary of Exeter Life Sciences in Austin,

Texas, and Cyagra, which offer livestock-cloning services to ranchers

for replicating their most elite sires and dams, have also been waiting

for several years for a final say from the FDA.

 

Cloning cattle can eliminate the genetic gamble that comes with more

traditional methods of reproduction, proponents say. Ranchers will choose

the animals that produce the best meat and the most milk, as well as

those that resist disease and reproduce more efficiently.

 

" For the United States agricultural industry, (cloning) can reduce the

number of cows necessary for milking, " said Jerry Yang, an animal

science professor at the University of Connecticut and a co-author of the

study, which appears in the April 11 online issue of the Proceedings of

the National Academy of Sciences. " They can have a pleasant environment

and produce even more milk. "

 

Yang's research found that cloned cattle produced better-quality meat

and more milk than those conceived through selective breeding.

 

He also said that cloning could be a boon for developing countries

where cows produce four to six times less meat and milk than those in the

United States, where genetic breeding is more advanced.

 

" If you use cloning technologies to copy the cows in developing

countries, you can save them 50 years of breeding, " Yang said.

 

The FDA said last year it was developing a regulatory policy for cloned

meat and milk, and in the meantime asked companies not to market food

from cloned animals.

 

A representative from the FDA said the agency had not examined the

study yet, and declined to comment on it. She said the agency will

consider

the paper, along with all other animal-cloning data the FDA has

gathered, when it determines its final risk assessment, which she said

is in

" final clearance " and should be released soon.

 

ViaGen and other animal-cloning companies for several years have been

feeding the FDA health data on their bovine clones.

 

The 2004 NAS report said methods for testing cloned meat and milk

safety were insufficient for determining potential health effects

associated

with unintended compositional changes in the products. It also said the

technologies were not sufficient for determining what parameters, such

as DNA or the presence of certain amino acids, were relevant for

predicting the impact on human health.

 

But Yang is confident his study examined relevant endpoints for proving

that the products are safe.

 

The researchers cloned a Japanese Black beef bull. The animal is so

prized in Japan that the country does not allow export of the animals or

even its cells, so the actual cloning was done in Japan. They also

cloned a Holstein dairy cow. They performed both using somatic cell

nuclear

transfer, the same technique used to clone Dolly the sheep. The

researchers compared the meat and milk from the clones to that of

animals of

similar age, genetics and breed created through natural reproduction.

 

They studied the protein, fat, white blood cells and other variables

routinely assessed by the dairy industry, which revealed no significant

differences in the milk.

 

" We found no difference in the clones versus genetic controls, " Yang

said.

 

The researchers also examined more than 100 meat-quality criteria, and

found that 90 percent showed no noteworthy variations. About eight

variables related to the amount of fat and fatty acids in the meat were

significantly higher in the meat from the clones.

 

Watchdog groups like Consumers Union worry the FDA's animal-cloning

regulations will mimic the agency's genetically modified crops protocol,

which is voluntary. Biotech companies such as Monsanto typically

summarize information about their genetically modified corn or wheat

for the

FDA, but are not required to do so by law. The FDA does not provide its

own independent review.

 

In its 2004 report, NAS said cloning is very inefficient and leads to

many abnormal and stillborn animals. But it's not clear those problems

will cause meat from cloned animals to harm people who eat it. And

cloning scientists say the success rates are improving. Past estimates

say

the success rate is between 0.1 percent and 3 percent, depending on the

type of animal.

 

 

 

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