Cloned meat, dairy make way to the table

[Guest guest]

Cloned meat, dairy make way to the table

 

John Upton, The Examiner

2007-10-29 10:00:00.0

Current rank: # 42 of 9,602

SAN FRANCISCO -

http://www.examiner .com/a-1015939~ Cloned_meat_ _dairy_make_ way_to_the_

table.html

 

Families and friends who share eggnog, lamb curry or beef stew this winter

may not know whether the main ingredients came from cloned animals, after

the governor vetoed a San Francisco lawmaker’s labeling bill.

 

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is poised to end a voluntary

moratorium on the sale of dairy and meat from cloned cattle, goats, pigs

and sheep, after it ruled last year that the food is safe for humans. The

agency published a health risk assessment in December that noted high

death rates among cloned animals and host mothers, partly because of

incidents of ‘large animal syndrome’ in cloned cattle and sheep.

 

A federal bill to require labels on food from cloned animals and their

descendents has been stalled in Democratic-controll ed congressional

committees since February. A similar bill by state Sen. Carole Migden,

D-San Francisco, passed the Legislature last month, but Gov. Arnold

Schwarzenegger recently refused to sign it.

 

To clone an animal, scientists move its genetic material into excavated

donor embryos, which are planted in host mothers to grow as genetic

doppelgängers of the prized beast. A Pew Initiative on Food and

Biotechnology survey last year found that two-thirds of Americans are

“uncomfortable” with the technology.

 

Migden said labels on cloned food would let consumers know and choose what

they put on the dinner table, but Schwarzenegger told lawmakers in a veto

statement that Migden’s proposed rules “could be unworkable, costly and

unenforceable,” and might violate federal law.

 

About a dozen agricultural and retail groups opposed Migden’s bill.

California Farm Bureau lobbyist Noelle Cremers said cloning lets livestock

producers “more quickly respond to consumer demand” by replicating valued

animals, and that it would be “next to impossible” to segregate food, for

labeling purposes, from cloned animals and their descendents.

 

Labels for cloned food would mislead consumers, which would violate

federal law, said Cremers, because there’s “absolutely no difference”

between food from cloned and non-cloned animals.

 

But food-safety and animal-welfare groups criticized Schwarzenegger’ s

decision. “The animals are injected with large amounts of hormones — and

that’s a food safety issue,” said Rebecca Spector, the San Francisco-based

West Coast director of The Center for Food Safety.

 

The nonprofit noted in a report that the federal government’s risk

assessment relied heavily on studies that weren’t reviewed by other

scientists. “We feel very strongly,” Spector said, “that there hasn’t been

adequate testing.”

 

UC Davis biotechnologist Alison Van Eenennaam said overgrown young are a

side effect of in vitro fertilization, and that they’re usually delivered

safely by Caesarean section. “Most of these companies have got a few vets

on staff,” she said. “It’s not like it’s Joe Blow out in the field hoping

for the best.”

 

jupton (AT) examiner (DOT) com