Clones Are Coming To A Grocery Store Near You
Thursday, December 28, 2006SUSIE GHARIB: Some food for thought today from the Food and Drug Administration. The agency declared food derived from cloned animals to be safe. And the FDA is moving towards letting cloned animal products be sold on store shelves without any kind of special labeling. As Stephanie Dhue explains, it's a controversial decision that both consumers and the food industry are weighing in on.
STEPHANIE DHUE, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: The Food and Drug Administration says meat and milk from cattle, pigs and goat clones are safe to eat. So the agency says it's unlikely it will require foods from cloned animals to be specifically labeled. But that decision is still pending. Critics of cloning, including Margaret Mellon of the Union of Concerned Scientists, say the FDA should require further studies.
MARGARET MELLON, UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS: While I do think that there are unlikely to be direct food safety implications from the consumption of the products of cloned animals and their progeny, I'm not as sure as I'd like to be.
DHUE: There are very few cloned animals in the U.S. now. Out a herd of nine million cows, only 150 are cloned. The biotechnology industry says cloning is a tool to make copies of the best animals, like the fattest pig or the best producing milk cow. Barbara Glenn of Bio says labeling isn't necessary since there is no health or safety issue from cloning.
BARBARA GLENN, MANAGING DIRECTOR OF ANIMAL BIOTECHNOLOGY, BIOTECHNOLOGY INDUSTRY ORGANIZATION: We're not changing any genes or moving or deleting or inhibiting any genes in these animals. We're simply creating a genetic twin. And therefore they're not what we would call biotech animals. They're not genetically engineered. They're not transgenic animals.
DHUE: Surveys show nearly two-thirds of Americans are uncomfortable with the idea of cloning animals for food and milk and that's a key concern for companies that sell meat and dairy products. The dairy industry worries that sales of milk and cheese could dip by 15 percent if products from cloned animals are allowed onto the market. Susan Ruland represents the diary foods association.
SUSAN RULAND, VP COMMUNICATIONS, INTERNATIONAL DAIRY ASSN.: We are watching very carefully what consumers are saying about this, what dairy farmers are saying about this, whether or not the pros and cons measure out that you would want to pursue this technology.
DHUE: Cloned foods won't be hitting the store shelves right away. The public has 90 days to comment on the FDA decision, but Mellon predicts consumers will bypass the FDA and go right to food suppliers.
MELLON: They are going to go to the producers of meat and milk in this country and ask them to take steps to make sure that the progeny of cloned animals are not in the food supply or that if they are they are labeled.
DHUE: Cloning an animal can cost more than $20,000. With those economics, experts predict only a select few will be cloned. But once those animals enter the food supply, it will be difficult to identify them from the rest. Stephanie Dhue, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT, Washington.
