GMW: Meat and milk from clones may be in U.S. food supply

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GMW: Meat and milk from clones may be in U.S. food supply

" GM WATCH " <info

Fri, 22 Dec 2006 10:55:23 GMT

 

 

 

 

GM WATCH daily

http://www.gmwatch.org

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EXTRACT: The federal government has no way to stop a farmer such as

Wiles from selling meat or milk from cloned animals. That means no one

can

be sure the food supply is free of them.

 

" Who knows whether people adhere to the voluntary moratorium or not? "

says Joseph Mendelson of the Center for Food Safety, an environmental

and public health group. " That's the problem with a system that relies on

the good graces of everyone. "

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Farmer: Cloned cows may be sold for meat

LIBBY QUAID

Associated Press, December 21 2006

http://dwb.sacbee.com/content/business/24hour_tech_business/story/3452004p-12652\

511c.html

 

For nearly four years, dairy farmer Greg Wiles has poured milk from his

cloned cows down the drain in compliance with a voluntary ban on food

from cloned livestock.

 

Now in financial straits, Wiles says he may be forced to sell his

cloned cows for hamburger.

 

The Food and Drug Administration says that's probably safe, but

pressure from the food industry has kept the agency from actually

approving

it. Milk and meat marketers worry that consumers won't accept food from

cloned animals.

 

Wiles says he can't wait any longer. Facing eviction in a bitter family

business dispute, he says he may be forced to violate the ban and sell

his two clones for hamburger meat.

 

" If I don't find a new home for these animals for them to live out

their lifetime, I could be forced by a court of law to introduce them

into

the food chain, " Wiles says.

 

The failure, so far, to approve cloned animals for the food supply

raises a quandary for consumers. The federal government has no way to

stop

a farmer such as Wiles from selling meat or milk from cloned animals.

That means no one can be sure the food supply is free of them.

 

The dairy industry says there are at least 150 livestock clones living

in the United States. A single dairy cow makes about 128 glasses of

milk every day. Cows that stop producing milk are often sold to ground

beef plants, where a single dairy cow can be turned into more than 3,000

hamburger patties.

 

Consumer advocates say the government should never have let cloned

animals live on commercial farms in the first place.

 

" Who knows whether people adhere to the voluntary moratorium or not? "

says Joseph Mendelson of the Center for Food Safety, an environmental

and public health group. " That's the problem with a system that relies on

the good graces of everyone. "

 

Resistance in the industry is a big reason why the government has taken

so long to decide. FDA officials have repeatedly said that food from

cloned animals appears to be as safe as conventional food. They say they

are close to making a decision and could act by the end of the year.

 

But they have been under pressure from big food companies, which worry

that consumers' concerns about animal cloning will prompt them to

reject meat and milk.

 

Surveys have shown that people are wary of food from cloned animals; 64

percent said they were uncomfortable with animal cloning in a September

poll by the Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology, says Michael

Fernandez, executive director of the nonpartisan research group.

 

When he got into the business of breeding dairy cows, Wiles never

imagined that cloning would be so controversial or that government

approval

would take so long.

 

His father was running a commercial dairy farm when Wiles returned home

in 1996 from the University of Maryland, full of ideas for breeding

champion dairy cows.

 

In just a few years, Wiles hit the big time with Zita, a Holstein that

won top ratings for her high level of milk production and the superior

butterfat content of her milk. Zita and her offspring drew visitors and

customers from all over the world.

 

But eventually, Zita grew too old to have more calves. That's when a

cloning company approached Wiles about making genetic copies of Zita.

Wiles was enthusiastic, and in 2001, Genesis and another clone, Cyagra,

were born.

 

Around the same time, FDA asked farmers and cloning companies to hold

off on using clones or their offspring for food while officials finished

a " risk assessment " to determine whether they were safe.

 

Since then, Wiles has been able to sell milk from other cows on his

farm, but not from Genesis and Cyagra. One customer told him it was

unwise

to invest in animals from the herd, because they mingled with the

clones on the farm. Genesis has had six offspring, all sired by a cloned

bull in Canada.

 

" Business basically completely dried up, and we have not sold an embryo

or bull in the last three years, " Wiles says.

 

Wiles took over the farm operation three years ago from his father, who

still owns the 20-acre property in northwest Maryland. But Wiles hasn't

paid rent in several months, and his father is seeking to evict him.

The men don't speak, not even when the father drives onto the farm to

check on his crops.

 

Father Charles Wiles says the cows should be euthanized and buried, not

sold for meat, because the FDA has not ruled meat and milk from

livestock clones to be safe for people to eat.

 

" If you can't milk them, and you can't eat them, and you can't sell

them, what are you supposed to do with them? Keep them until they die of

old age? " Charles Wiles asks. " This is the dairy industry, not a hobby.

It's got to be a moneymaking, profitable enterprise. "

 

Wiles says he doesn't want the animals killed - he says one of the

clones, Cyagra, has had health problems and should be studied. Cyagra has

never grown to full size, aborted her first calf and had another that

died a month after it was born. Wiles has offered her to the government

for research. The government has declined.

 

An industry group, the International Dairy Foods Association, hopes

that Wiles will abide by the voluntary moratorium and keep his clones out

of the food supply. The association, which represents brands such as

Kraft, Dannon and Borden, says it believes all farmers have complied with

the ban.

 

The FDA urges Wiles to comply as well, spokesman Doug Arbesfeld said.

" FDA has asked farmers voluntarily to refrain from putting meat or milk

from cloned animals into the food supply until the agency's risk

assessment is complete, " Arbesfeld said.

 

Wiles has a few weeks more to try to find a solution; a judge delayed

the eviction proceeding on Dec. 13.

 

" I have figured up hundreds of thousands of dollars of losses at a

minimum because of these clones, " Wiles said. " If I can't recoup my

investment, and they're no longer productive at all, their only choice

is that

they go into the food supply. "

 

 

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