In a decision that is seen as a major step toward allowing the sale of cloned food, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said last week that meat and milk from cloned animals are safe for human consumption. Health Canada, however, isn't ready to approve cloned food for Canadian consumers...yet.
FDA scientists said that by the time cloned animals reached 18 months of age, it was almost impossible to distinguish any difference between them and conventionally bred animals.
After conducting a five-year study in which meat and milk products from cloned cattle, goats, and pigs were examined, the U.S. health regulator said in a draft ruling that food from these animals is "as safe as the food we eat every day."
Health Canada says that cloned food will not be entering the marketplace in Canada until more research is carried out and the U.S. ruling is examined. Currently, selling food from cloned animals is forbidden in Canada.
"We are reviewing this matter," says Health Canada Media Relations Officer Renee Bergeron. "We will be working with other departments involved in this issue to provide feedback to the FDA as part of the comment period that follows the release of its draft assessment."
Over the next three months, the FDA will seek public consultations on the sale of cloned food before making a final ruling. But if cloned food is allowed onto supermarket shelves, the FDA said it is "unlikely" that special labelling would be required, angering consumer groups who say the public should have the right to make a choice.
Bruce Cran, President of the Consumers Association of Canada, says consumers are very concerned on the issue of cloned food, and notes that polls have shown that 80 percent of Canadians are uncomfortable with the idea of eating products from cloned animals.
"We at CAC hope this is not going to be another one of these things that the government is going to poke down our throats whether we like it or not," says Cran. "We will certainly challenge it to the limit."
The Consumer Federation of America has said that the FDA is ignoring research showing that cloning produces more malformed animals than other reproductive technologies such as artificial insemination or in vitro fertilization, and is calling on supermarkets to refuse to sell cloned food.
Since Dolly the sheep was cloned in Scotland in 1997, scientists have gone on to clone cows and goats, some of which have produced healthy offspring. Dolly developed arthritis at an unusually young age, and died from a progressive lung disease when she was six years old. Many cloned animals are born deformed or ill, or simply die right away after birth.
According to Health Canada's website, the type of cloning method that produced Dolly, called somatic cell nuclear transfer, has raised potential food safety concerns.
Biotechnology companies are working to create genetically modified pigs intended for use in animal to human organ transplants (xenotransplantations). Pigs are considered good candidates for xenotransplantations as their organs are about the same size as those in humans.
In 2001, after 100 failed attempts, the same company behind Dolly produced five cloned piglets which they say lack the gene that causes rejection of the transplanted organ. But some scientists are concerned about the transfer of porcine viruses to transplant recipients.
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