FDA Calls Food From Cloned Animals Safe

Even if the FDA decides on cloned foods within a year, it would be much longer before food from cloned animals makes its way to grocery stores and dining rooms. Most of the food from cloned animals will actually be from the offspring (naturally begotten) of the original cloned animals. Most of the cloned animals would be used for breeding purposes until they reached old age, at which time they, too, might enter the food supply.

Currently there are only a small number of cloned farm animals in the United States. According to theWashington Post, there are 150 cloned cows out of 9 million dairy cows in the United States, which each clone costing about $20,000 to produce. The expense alone should keep the number of cloned animals down.

The draft risk assessment concluded a five-year review of the available science on meat and milk from clones of adult cattle, pigs and goats, as well as their offspring.

Although no testing was done on humans, the evidence thus far showed that cloned animals and offspring of cloned animals were indistinguishable from conventionally bred and raised animals, Sundlof said. Analyses extended down to the cellular and molecular levels.

"We have looked very, very closely at any potential hazard and can't find any that might be harmful to the public," Sundlof said. "We feel very confident with the results of this food report."

No decision has yet been made as to how food from cloned animals would be labeled for the consumer, and no labeling may be required, Sundlof said.

"Unless there's some compelling reason to require labeling, something different about the food or something was taken out or put in, the FDA would not have the authority to require labeling," he explained. "If we felt that the food contained any introduced substances that would be harmful, labeling would be in order, but the draft does not find that that is the case."

More information

For more on animal cloning, visit the FDA.

SOURCES: Andrew Kimbrell, executive director, Center for Food Safety, Washington, D.C.; Dec. 28, 2006, press conference with Stephen F. Sundlof, D.V.M., Ph.D., director, Center for Veterinary Medicine, U.S. Food and Drug Administration