By: Jeremy Smith, Reuters, 30.jan.09

BRUSSELS — EU regulators will discuss again in a few months whether to allow meat and milk products from cloned animals into the food chain, despite local consumer opposition and inconclusive data, officials said on Friday.

Animal cloning has been around for years. Dolly the cloned sheep was born in 1996, for example. Now, scientists estimate the EU has 100 cattle clones and fewer pig clones alive. Race horses have also been cloned.

Many consumer and religious groups strongly oppose the technology, which takes cells from an adult and fuses them with others before implanting them in a surrogate mother. They say scientists don’t know its effects on nutrition and biology.

But advocates of livestock cloning say the technology will help produce more milk and lean, tender meat by creating more disease-resistant animals. They insist it is safe.

Europe has yet to take a position on the technology as far as cloning of animals for food is concerned, which the European Commission says has not yet occurred in the European Union. Denmark is the only EU country to have adopted any cloning law.

After holding a closed-door debate recently on food deriving from cloned animals that ended in stalemate, the Commission delayed discussing the subject further, asking the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) for more in-depth scientific advice.

A ban, if not properly justified, could lead to problems for the EU at the World Trade Organisation, officials said.

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Posted by Admin on July 19th, 2009 :: Filed under Consumers, Education and public awareness, Food safety, Innovation and technology, Regulations
Tags :: agriculture, animals, cloning, EU
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