EU to ban cloned meat

The European Parliament's environment committee has voted to entirely prohibit the entry of any food derived from cloned animals and their offspring onto EU markets.

 

The new report follows a 2008 Parliament resolution calling for a ban on cloning for food supply purposes and an embargo on imports of cloned animals, their produce and offspring.

 

Back in 2008, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) found no clear safety concerns related to food products from clones of cattle, pigs or their offspring. But its scientific opinion underlined that there was not enough scientific data on the subject and that the practice has major repercussions on animal health and welfare.

 

The European Group on Ethics for Science and New Technologies (EGE) has also advised against cloning animals for food. In its 2008 opinion on ethical aspects of animal cloning for food supply, it states that "considering the current level of suffering and health problems of surrogate dams and animal clones, the EGE has doubts as to whether cloning animals for food supply is ethically justified."

 

A new biotech report prepared for German Member of Parliament (MEP) Martin Häusling, published on May 4, 2010, concludes that cloning could have adverse human health effects.

 

"Higher rates of infection, along with diseases and malformations in liver and brains of mice, sheep and cows, have been reported," said Häusling.

 

"Furthermore, these effects could also be detected in subsequent generations of these cloned animals. From a consumer perspective it is alarming that US research has shown in a few cases that even the composition of milk can differ between a cloned and non-cloned animal," Häusling added.