Cloned meat, dairy make way to the table - Bible Prophecy News

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Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2007 17:11:29 -0700
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*Perilous Times

Cloned meat, dairy make way to the table*

John Upton, The Examiner
2007-10-29 10:00:00.0

SAN FRANCISCO -Families and friends who share eggnog, lamb curry or beef 
stew this winter may not know whether the main ingredients came from 
cloned animals, after the governor vetoed a San Francisco lawmaker’s 
labeling bill.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is poised to end a voluntary 
moratorium on the sale of dairy and meat from cloned cattle, goats, pigs 
and sheep, after it ruled last year that the food is safe for humans. 
The agency published a health risk assessment in December that noted 
high death rates among cloned animals and host mothers, partly because 
of incidents of ‘large animal syndrome’ in cloned cattle and sheep.

A federal bill to require labels on food from cloned animals and their 
descendents has been stalled in Democratic-controlled congressional 
committees since February. A similar bill by state Sen. Carole Migden, 
D-San Francisco, passed the Legislature last month, but Gov. Arnold 
Schwarzenegger recently refused to sign it.

To clone an animal, scientists move its genetic material into excavated 
donor embryos, which are planted in host mothers to grow as genetic 
doppelgängers of the prized beast. A Pew Initiative on Food and 
Biotechnology survey last year found that two-thirds of Americans are 
“uncomfortable” with the technology.

Migden said labels on cloned food would let consumers know and choose 
what they put on the dinner table, but Schwarzenegger told lawmakers in 
a veto statement that Migden’s proposed rules “could be unworkable, 
costly and unenforceable,” and might violate federal law.

About a dozen agricultural and retail groups opposed Migden’s bill. 
California Farm Bureau lobbyist Noelle Cremers said cloning lets 
livestock producers “more quickly respond to consumer demand” by 
replicating valued animals, and that it would be “next to impossible” to 
segregate food, for labeling purposes, from cloned animals and their 
descendents.

Labels for cloned food would mislead consumers, which would violate 
federal law, said Cremers, because there’s “absolutely no difference” 
between food from cloned and non-cloned animals.

But food-safety and animal-welfare groups criticized Schwarzenegger’s 
decision. “The animals are injected with large amounts of hormones — and 
that’s a food safety issue,” said Rebecca Spector, the San 
Francisco-based West Coast director of The Center for Food Safety.

The nonprofit noted in a report that the federal government’s risk 
assessment relied heavily on studies that weren’t reviewed by other 
scientists. “We feel very strongly,” Spector said, “that there hasn’t 
been adequate testing.”

UC Davis biotechnologist Alison Van Eenennaam said overgrown young are a 
side effect of in vitro fertilization, and that they’re usually 
delivered safely by Caesarean section. “Most of these companies have got 
a few vets on staff,” she said. “It’s not like it’s Joe Blow out in the 
field hoping for the best.”