DESPITE CONSUMER OPPOSITION FDA APPROVES FOOD FROM CLONES

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DESPITE CONSUMER OPPOSITION FDA APPROVES FOOD FROM CLONESOn January 15, the FDA announced its final approval of meat and milk from cloned animals. OCA's action alerts on this issue last year generated tens of thousands of letters to the FDA, but the agency has not changed its mind. OCA's biggest concerns with this issue are the lack of proof regarding the safety of cloned food as well as issues relating to sustainability and animal welfare. On a sustainability level, a healthy population of any animal or plant requires genetic diversity to prevent an entire population falling to one disease outbreak, for example. In regards to animal welfare, the majority of cloned cattle and other animals are born with painful birth defects. The upside of this announcement is that it will likely be several years before any of these food products hit the market, due to high costs of cloning. In addition consumers can avoid food from cloned animals by purchasing certified organic foods, which ban cloned ingredients. For more information on cloning see the OCA website:http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_9699.cfm