Cloned meat Food Inc

Clone farming would introduce cruelty on a massive scale, say animal welfare groups

By Sean Poulter
Last updated at 1:30 AM on 27th November 2010

The introduction of clone farming would result in cruelty on a massive scale, academics and animal welfare groups warned last night.

They spoke out after a committee of Government advisers ruled that meat and milk from cloned animals is 'unlikely to present any food safety risk'.

The committee's verdict is considered an important advance for the controversial technology, which is opposed by the vast majority of consumers.

Study: Meat and milk from cloned animals is 'unlikely' to be a bigger safety risk than conventionally produced food, Government advisers said

Farmers believe cloning will help create new herds of supersize animals capable of producing vast quantities of meat and milk.

However, opponents stress the main objection has always been the cruelty involved in the technique and whether it is acceptable on ethical grounds.

Animal welfare campaigners, including the RSPCA and Compassion in the World Farming, point to high levels of miscarriage, organ failure and gigantism among new-born clones.

There are also concerns that it fuels the drive towards factory farming where animals are merely cogs in the machine.

Dr Brendan Curran, a geneticist from Queen Mary, University of London, said: 'There is an ethical dimension to this technology that causes concern.

'Although cloned calves of six months or older do not present with major health problems, several studies describe abnormalities in foetal development and in the new-born of cloned animals.

'This is because much remains to be learnt about the most efficient way to use this technology, which is little more than ten years old.

'Therefore one of the significant issues regulatory bodies must deal with, in deciding whether to permit the use of cloned animals in breeding programmes, will be whether the usefulness of this technique in animal breeding outweighs its impact on animal well-being.'

This week, the Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes(ACNFP) confirmed previous reports from Europe and the US that the food would be equivalent to conventionally produced meat and milk.

The ACNFP advises the Food Standards Agency(FSA), which is responsible for making recommendations to the Government on how to police the technology.
The committee's chairman, Professor Peter Gregory, said yesterday 'A series of analsyses of meat and milk from clones and conventional animals shows there is no substantial difference in composition.'

However, significantly, his committee warned the evidence is limited and further research is required.

The issue of the labelling of food from clones and their offspring is highly controversial.

Surveys show the vast majority of shoppers want full labelling. However, there are concerns that farmers and the food industry may block this.

The view of the expert committee will play a key role in shaping official British policy, however, the final decision will be made by the European Union.
The European Commission recently proposed a total ban on any food from clone animals. MEPs, animal welfare groups and some other governments believe this ban should also cover clone offspring.

In the summer the Daily Mail revealed how more than 100 clone offspring cattle, Holstein milking cows, had been born on British farms. The Mail also revealed how meat from some of these animals went into the food chain in London, north east England and Scotland.

Opponents of cloning in food production have always cited concerns over animal welfare and ethics, ahead of any doubts about food safety.

The Soil Association's head of policy, Emma Hockridge, said: 'Industrialising the farming and food chain, and treating animals as little more than factory commodities, raises serious questions about both the ethics and the resilience of our present systems for feeding ourselves.'

The director of campaigning food group, GM Freeze, which opposes clone farming, Pete Riley, said: 'Cloning is a highly controversial issue with little public support.

The very high death rate and existence of health problems in clones and their offspring points to the fact that the impacts of cloning are poorly understood.

'The Government and FSA must take the widest possible view of the impacts of cloning on our food, farming and countryside, including ethical, animal welfare and socio-economic affects, as well as food safety. The views of the public must also figure strongly'.