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At the moment, food produced from cloned animals is not approved for sale to consumers, but the FDA said this week that they were "moving closer to approving meat and milk from cloned animals." It could happen as early as next year.
Understandably, some people are concerned about this. 60% of Americans say that they are "uncomfortable" with the idea of eating such animals. Most feel that any products resulting from a cloned animal should be clearly marked so that consumers have a choice about what they're eating - despite the fact that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has concluded there is no more danger in eating meat or other products from cloned animals than there is from conventional animals. There are no more than 2,000 or so cloned animals in the US for now, and the FDA has asked producers to voluntarily keep such products out of the production lines.
One question that has been raised is why farmers or ranchers would want cloned cattle (or other animals) in the first place, since it would cost just as much to upkeep them as natural animals. The other big question is why consumers would want cloned food over non-cloned food. There is said to be little difference between natural and non-natural meat and dairy, and if consumers can't tell the difference, why would they pay for it?
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10-20-2006 @11:49AM PghEats said... I think there's a misconception that is not based in fact that anything with which man has tampered is somehow wrong and evil. I do not share that view. Thank you, Villareal for a nice summary.
Has anyone considered that if the spinach had been irradiated, there would have been no E. Coli outbreak? I am married to a doctor of physics, so don't even try to tell me that irradiation is, by any rational standard, dangerous. It simply is not.
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10-20-2006 @11:55AM TheMatt said... Would I eat cloned food? Well, yes. I have a banana every day. Clones=good.
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10-20-2006 @12:59PM Al said... Clones and genetically-enhanced food suffer from the same problem that nuclear power does: it's been portrayed for so very, very long as this creeping evil thing that most people don't understand what it really is.
I'd eat cloned meat, but honestly I don't see the big benefit of it. You can get very close to cloning without the test tube just through good old selective breeding. Surely what an animal eats and how it is raised has more effect on its meat than slight generational variations in the DNA.
Personally. I'd rather eat meat "Meat Vat" meat. I'm prefectly serious here. I'm talking about growing meat in a controlled environment with no biological brain attached, where the grower can dictate the marble, exercise and such with complete control. Imagine being able to grow Kobe beef loin by the ton. Wouldn't this be more efficient and FAR less wasteful than breeding herds of animals just for slaughter? Not to mention the moral implications of not having to slaughter herds of living things for food anymore.
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10-20-2006 @2:19PM Dieter said... I can see it now ...
DRIVE-THRU: "Welcome to Burger Builders. Would you like to try our meal deal?
DRIVER: "Uh, yeah, I'd like the 1/2 lb. 99-cent burger 'n shake meal deal. Umm, is that price for real? I mean, 99-cents?"
DRIVE-THRU: "Yup, it's our cloned cow meal deal - burger 'n milk - same cow, last few years."
DRIVER: "Uh, is it safe? I mean, this cow's been 'round for how many years now?"
DRIVE-THRU: "Oh yeah, FDA 'n such. It's all approved, I think. We have the fine print. Like a brochure?"
DRIVER: "Well, um, what if I order the 1/2 burger 'n shake. What's that cost, I don't see a price?"
DRIVE-THRU: "It's market driven. When you pull foward I can tell you the cost at that time."
DRIVER: "Wow! Um, at that time? I'm confused. Maybe I should come in and speak to you, or better, your manager. What's your name?"
DRIVE-THRU: "Sue. And the manager on duty is Sue Two."
DRIVER: "Your manager is also named Sue, too?"
DRIVE-THRU: "Yes, she's Sue Two. I'm Sue Three, and at the counter are Sue One, Sue Five and Sue Six. Sue Four is off today, something to do with her genes, we're told."
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10-20-2006 @5:16PM Spoonman said... Holly, Alex has hit the nail on the head: considering all of the growth hormones and weird science that's pumped into today's cows (in Europe as well as the US), you're infinitely better off with cloned cows than what you've got now. I would hope the Eurpoean community were better educated than you. If not, I have no hope for the future considering the state of education in the US. :)
Hilary, genetic diversity only applies in the wild, not agriculture. Cows don't have to fight for survival in a slaughterhouse, their fate is predetermined before their births and no genetic diversity will change that. Regardless, there will still some genetic diversity. It's not like a) every farmer is going to have clones of the exact same cow as everyone else and b) cloning will never be universal. There will always be people who think non-cloned meat is better and so there will be a market for it. Don't want it, don't buy it, but you'll pay a lot more for lower quality.
TheMatt, you sir are a genius, completely forgot about bananananananas!
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10-26-2006 @4:21PM scatman said... What the cloning advocates are failing to mention is the fact that cloning is not yet a perfect science. Most, if not all, cloned animals have been unhealthy and diseased; even the infamous "Dolly" died prematurely from disease. Who's to say these diseases, which are a direct result of genetic manipulation, can't be passed to us humans (like the avian flu is passed from animal to human) as we eat this cloned food. By agreeing to eat cloned foods, in this early stage of the science of genetic engineering, you're basically signing up to be a guinea pig.
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12-28-2006 @3:00AM Paul Yost said... Some species of fish can reproduce asexually. If you eat fish, it is possible you may have already eaten a "naturally" cloned animal. Parthenogenesis does not always result in a genetic clone--genetic variability is sometimes introduced during normal meiosis.
The danger that widespread use of cloning might reduce variability in species is extremely small. In fact, the opposite is true--cloning may well preserve genetic variety subject to loss through interbreeding.
"Normal" dairy cows might produce 10 lbs of milk per day. Some cows can produce more than 100 lbs of milk per day, without hormones like BGH which sometimes appear in the milk. It has been suggested that BGH increases the risk of birth defects in cows, but there is no evidence that ingestion of residual traces of BGH in milk creates any risk for birth defects in humans.
Would I drink milk from a cloned cow? Of course. The milk should reasonably be every bit as good as milk from any other dairy cow. I would think that "animal rights" activists would actually endorse cloned milk cows, because the sex is predetermined. Half of the dairy cattle conceived naturally are male, and these are frequently used for veal, because they cannot be milked. Also, dairy cattle must give birth before they begin producing milk, so even cloned cattle must either breed or be inseminated before they can be milked.
I favor cloning animals and humans. The sooner we embrace this technology, the sooner we will move on to even greater things, such as bioengineering. The only hangup people have about cloning is purely psychological.
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12-28-2006 @2:09PM betty said... No Way, I am giving up the flesh. What is man doing?
Years later people will wonder why they have this diease or that diease? Destruction on humans.
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