That tastes familiar: FDA approves cloned food

The Associated Press

So nice you can eat it twice?

Featured Topic | Posted 44 weeks 4 days ago

That tastes familiar: FDA approves cloned food

The FDA says cloned food is safe.

Maybe, but it still gives a lot of people the creeps.

In practice, it will be years before foods from clones make their way to store shelves in appreciable quantities, in part because the clones themselves are too valuable to slaughter or milk. Instead, the pricey animals -- replicas of some of the finest farm animals ever born -- will be used primarily as breeding stock to create what proponents say will be a new generation of superior farm animals.

Why would we clone our food? And who could possibly object?

Ben likes: Clone... it's what's for dinner

Henry I. Miller/TCSDaily

What of the efforts to require labeling of products derived from cloned animals or their offspring? Federal law requires that food labels be truthful and not misleading, and prohibits label statements that are likely to be misunderstood by consumers even if they are, strictly speaking, accurate. So a "cholesterol-free" label on fresh broccoli is accurate, but could run afoul of the FDA's rules because it could be interpreted to as implying that broccoli usually does contain cholesterol, even though in fact it does not. So instead of serving a legitimate "right to know," mandatory labels would be misconstrued by some consumers as a warning that food from cloned animals is not as safe or nutritious, even though it is.

Joel likes: Unanswered questions

Center for Science in the Public Interest

While the FDA is charged with assessing the safety issues surrounding animal cloning, it’s not the agency’s job to address other objections that make cloned animals controversial. Congress should hold hearings on the animal-welfare, ethical, and environmental implications of cloning.

If companies begin using clones to breed food animals, they need to explain why. Will it make any food product better, safer, cheaper or more sustainable? Clear evidence of benefits must be generated if consumers are going to accept cloned animals and their products.