Research for this article began when I was asked to be a guest on China Radio’s Today on Beyond Beijing contributing to their panel discussion on cloned meats. I was honored, but cloned meats? What did I know about cloned meats? Nothing, and apparently, I wasn’t alone.
Kept in the dark would be an accurate description of how American consumers are treated when it comes to cloned meats and food from their offspring.
Reproductive cloning is a centuries old technology used to generate an animal that has the same nuclear DNA as another animal — Bio 101 ends here. Farm animal cloning, on the other hand, is a new technology. While scientists boast that cloning preserves elite genetics, further studies suggest the process may actually result in subtle changes in food composition which could pose food-consumption risks.
In the US, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not regulate the sale of milk or meat from offspring of cloned animals and does not require these foods to be labeled. Cloned food products have been in the American food supply since 2008.
It wasn’t until August 4th of this summer that the use of cloned meat made its way into the headlines. The New York Times reported: Britain Confirms Unauthorized Sale of Meat From Animal Bred From a Clone sparked huge debate over cloned meats in the UK and across Europe forcing the EU to place bans on the sale of cloned meats and their offspring until strict regulations could be put in place.
While the safety and ethics of new food technologies caused concern across Europe, in America, consumers continued to buy steak, hamburgers and hot dogs without giving it a second thought.
The two major issues surrounding cloned meats are the lack of research and a question of ethics. The ethical issue can be argued, lack of research cannot. Recent studies have found that genetic defects in clones could be passed down to their offspring. The data on cloned pigs’ offspring showed smaller litters, slower growth, 25% of progeny deaths, and an abnormality rate of 2.5 times that of normal pigs. Most clones die before birth or in the first few weeks of life.
Cattle clones often suffer from “large-offspring” syndrome, wherein the fetus grows twice as large as normal, sometimes causing death for both the cow and calf. Surviving calves are often sicker than ordinary calves.
Most beef studies found differences in clones’ meat composition and pork studies found significant differences. Nevertheless, at the end of the George W. Bush administration, the FDA hurriedly approved the cloning of farm animals.
Today, many US farmers have left the cloning business because they find it to be too expensive - $17,000 to clone one animal - and have not found it to be the most effective way to improve their herd.
Every meat eater has eaten food from the offspring of cloned animals. The question is, what are we going to do about it?
- Why aren’t we asking questions and demanding answers from our government agencies and meat producers?
- Why haven’t strict regulations been enforced on cloned meats and their offspring?
- Why haven’t US consumers demanded a ban on cloned meats until more research has been done?
While the FDA has claimed that the cloned meat would not have to be labeled any differently, legislators in seven states, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, and Washington, have sponsored bills that would require cloned meat and dairy to be labeled.
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