Experts Debate Cloned Food

The question is whether we respect the ecological boundaries of Mother Nature. We have successfully bred through traditional breeding practices a huge diversity of animal breeds. Cloning is the first time that we have tried to mixed the genes from 3 animals -- the two that were the parents of the animal that is being cloned and the one from the animal that produced the egg used for the cloning. Cloning, so far, is the least successful breeding technology that we humans have devised and it is the most brutal yet devised if you count the thousands of animals that have died from the failures of cloning.

There are simply no "normal" animals that result from cloning. The difficulty that the cloned embryos have in reorganizing the genes within the embryo is a MAJOR problem in cloning. Mother Nature spent a long time working out the bugs in her system, we should respect her learnings. The reason we are not is that cloning offers a way to concentrate both the genetics and the business of animal reproduction. Interestingly, the companies that have concentrated on the meat packing business are now saying that they will not market cloned meat or the milk from clones. Smithfield Foods and Hormel, the largest pork packers have announced that they will not sell cloned product, as has Tyson's the largest beef packer. As more and more consumers are wanting more natural and organic products, cloned meat is a move in the wrong direction: ecologically, ethically, and economically.

There is nothing wrong with Mother Nature's way. But using this new technology enables producers to extend and preserve those genetics found to be uniquely useful, and already produced once by Mother Nature. Mother Nature lets animals age and die, and previously, those genetics were then lost to us. Now, we can establish a cell line and continue to use those very best genetics (animals) until Mother Nature sends us a better one.