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Food From Clones Safe, E.U. Draft Says
A cloned calf named Elvis was born on a farm in Austin owned by Raymond and Karen Rosenbaum.
(By Carol Guzy -- The Washington Post)
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New Zealand has released a positive report on the safety of food from clones and their progeny, and Canada and Argentina are expected to follow soon.
The "draft risk assessment" released by the FDA in December 2006 found no unique health risks from meat or milk from clones or their offspring. The agency has been reworking that analysis, taking into account new science and the more than 30,500 public comments it received. It is expected to release its final report any day.
Last February, noting progress made by the FDA, the European Commission asked its Food Safety Authority also to provide a "scientific opinion" on the safety of foods from clones and an assessment of cloning's effects on animal health and welfare and on the environment.
Yesterday's report was a first draft of that opinion and will be open for public comment for 45 days. It asserted that the introduction of cloned animals into agriculture will not affect the environment.
"Cloning does not involve changes in DNA sequences and thus no new genes would be introduced into the environment," it said.
The report noted that a different European advisory group is preparing a study of the ethical implications of bringing cloning to European agriculture. And it recommended further research, especially on older clones, very few of which, it said, have been carefully studied.
Joseph Mendelson, legal director at the Washington-based Center for Food Safety, which has petitioned the FDA to delay approving cloned food, predicted that Europeans would demand marketing restrictions on the products.
"Human health is only part of the equation in Europe," Mendelson said. "And even if Europe gives it a green light, we believe they will require labels."
The FDA has said it is unlikely to require that cloned food be labeled as such if no novel risks are identified.
The Biotechnology Industry Organization, a Washington-based trade group whose members include the nation's two largest farm animal cloning companies, applauded the European action and encouraged the FDA to release its long-delayed final report.
Foreign correspondent Molly Moore contributed to this report from Paris.
