Food Sleuth: I Prefer Natural Selection to ClonedPerfection
By Melinda Hemmelgarn
Columbia Daily Tribune
January 23, 2008
Available online at:
Call me old-fashioned, but the thought of eating anypart of a cloned animal leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.
IÕm not alone. Recent polls and national surveys fromGallup, the Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology, and Consumers Unionreport nearly two-thirds of American consumers express discomfort and concernabout animal cloning; 89 percent want identifying labels.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration made historylast week by concluding the "meat and milk from clones of cattle, swineand goats, and the offspring of all clones, are as safe to eat as the food fromconventionally bred animals."
The FDA reports that unlike genetic engineering,cloning does not change the gene sequence. The agency defines an animal cloneas "a genetic copy of a donor animal, similar to an identical twin butborn at a different time." However, the Center for Food Safety, anot-for-profit public interest and environmental advocacy organizationheadquartered in Washington, D.C., discloses potential health defects,deformities and difficult births.
Animal welfare and ethical issues aside, the cloningindustry promises livestock producers a more efficient breeding method forconsistently producing the best traits in meat: lean, juicy, tender andflavorful every time.
IÕm not buying if I can help it. Unfortunately, theFDA will not require identifying labels on meat or milk from cloned animals,nor will they track those products in the food supply. FDA said there is noneed for either because the products are "no different."
Voluntary "clone-free" labels will beevaluated on a "case-by-case basis to ensure compliance with statutoryrequirements that labeling be truthful and not misleading."
Sound familiar? WeÕve heard this line before aboutmilk from cows treated with MonsantoÕs artificial growth hormone, rBST.However, "no different" depends on what youÕre measuring.
For example, cloning reduces Mother NatureÕs naturalpreference for biodiversity. Biological variation confers resistance to diseaseand affords populations resilience in the face of adversity. For example, theCenter for Food Safety reports that without genetic variation, a single diseasecan affect all animals simultaneously, potentially wiping out entire herds.
In Jan WeberÕs award-winning documentary film,"As We Sow," University of Missouri rural sociologist, BillHeffernan, explains how consolidation in the hog industry narrowed downbreeding lines to three or four. Shrinking the gene pool "may be efficientin the short term," he said. But in the long run, the loss of diversityyields a "high-risk food system."
We have to ask: Who benefits from this technology?Small producers with heritage breeds at the farmerÕs market? Or the largerindustrial agricultural food system?
FDAÕs approval opens up a $20 billion potentialmarket to the livestock cloning industry. At $15,000 per single cloned bull orcow, weÕre not likely to see these animals on small family farms.
Jaydee Hanson, policy analyst at the Center for FoodSafety, said two out of the three FDA reviewers who assessed the safety ofcloned food products have "serious conflict of interest" because oftheir ties to the cloning industry. Yet "their identification and summaryof their credentials on the FDA Web site leaves out their industryconnections," he noted.
Personally, I share HansonÕs concerns about ethicsand safety. Plus, I donÕt want all my hamburgers tasting the same. Differentbreeds feature subtle flavor and nutrient differences. We would be wise to stopweeding out biological diversity, regardless of the means.
"On the positive side," Hanson said,"cloned food stimulates organic demand." Only the USDAÕs certifiedorganic label guarantees consumers clone-free food.
HereÕs how you can help keep our food systemhonest, safe and humane:
1. Visit theCenter for Food Safety for an overview of the topic and action alerts atwww.centerforfoodsafety.org.
2. Let yourrepresentatives in Washington know how you feel about cloning and foodlabeling. The Capitol switchboard is (202) 224-3121.
3. Vote with yourfork.