Got Cloning?

Well the FDA has released its draft statement on cloning of livestock. They have concluded that consumption of cattle, swine and and goats from animals that have been cloned or their offspring pose no riskfor human consumption over animals produced from other breeding methods. Consumption of sheep clones is not on the list as safe to consume as there is lack of information on them. The offspring of cloned sheep however are considered safe. At this time the FDA is maintaining a "moratorium" on allowing clones or their offspring into the food chain. They will be taking comments for a period of time and then issuing their final statement.

So what will these super steers be used for? Cloned animals are very expensive to produce. They will be used primarily as copies of animals with highly desirable traits such as tender meat or disease resistance, etc. Currently animals with such desirable traits have their traits passed on via artificial insemination. Once the desirable animal is dead it is lost as the source of genetic material (ie. semen) and its offspring have to be relied on or other superior animals sought out.

My projection is that cloning will be a up and coming tool used by extremely high end breeders. From there their genetic information will be distributed more extensively into the gene pool of more discerning commercial herds concerned with carcass traits. With time it will be hard to track the dissemination of a cloned animal's family tree and the consumer will have no way of knowing what their food's origins are. That of course will limit the label claim of "no clones added" which you may see at some point alongside of other common claims such as no antibiotics added, no hormones.

How about organic labels and cloning? At first blush this is prohibited but in looking at the FDA comment for producers it sounds like that is not the final word

For now, I will be able to honestly say to my customers, "my animals have no clones in their lineage". Ten years from now, it may be hard to say!

Electronic comments can be submitted to the FDA on this topic at: http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/oc/dockets/commentdocket.cfm.

Sources:
Animal Cloning: FAQ's About Cloning for Livestock Managers; US FDA Center For Veterinary Medicine http://www.fda.gov/cvm/CloningRA_FAQProducers.htm

A Risk Based Approach to Evaluate Animal Clones and Their Progeny - Draft http://www.fda.gov/cvm/CloneRiskAssessment.htm