Meat and milk from cloned animals pose no special health risks, a draft report by the European Food Safety Agency issued on Friday concluded, a first step toward the eventual sale of such products within the European Union. "It is very unlikely that any difference exists in terms of food safety between food products originating from clones and their progeny compared with those derived from conventionally bred animals," the report says. The report acknowledged that cloned animals were prone to more diseases than conventionally bred animals, but said that humans would not suffer because unhealthy clones would be excluded from the food supply chain as is the case with conventionally bred animals. The decision prompted an immediate outcry from environmental groups, who are already at odds with the agency over its conclusion that there is "no evidence" that genetically modified crops pose a health or environmental risk.
Meat and milk from cloned animals pose no special health risks, a draft report by the European Food Safety Agency issued on Friday concluded, a first step toward the eventual sale of such products within the European Union.
"It is very unlikely that any difference exists in terms of food safety between food products originating from clones and their progeny compared with those derived from conventionally bred animals," the report says.
The report acknowledged that cloned animals were prone to more diseases than conventionally bred animals, but said that humans would not suffer because unhealthy clones would be excluded from the food supply chain as is the case with conventionally bred animals.
The decision prompted an immediate outcry from environmental groups, who are already at odds with the agency over its conclusion that there is "no evidence" that genetically modified crops pose a health or environmental risk.
From a production point of view, where is the advantage ? I would have thought that genetic variety was safer and less disease prone in the long term.
The problem is that the more genetically homogeneous a population is, the greater the susceptibility to any pathogen that gets into it - the standard risk of monocultures. Also, a production-enhancing change in a genome can come at the expense of some feature that promotes hardiness. The production advantage is that producers hope the new, less hardy creatures will produce either more product, more valuable product (e.g. leaner meat) or the same product in a shorter time. The fact is that what we're experiencing right now is a top-down disaster. -Paul Krugman
its conclusion that there is "no evidence" that genetically modified crops pose a health or environmental risk.
As we are all so fond of reminding each other: "Absence of evidence does not equal evidence of absence." The fact is that what we're experiencing right now is a top-down disaster. -Paul Krugman
