Clone-Generated Milk, Meat May Be Approved (1/2)

Clone-Generated Milk, Meat May Be Approved Favorable FDA Ruling Seen as Imminent By Justin Gillis The Food and Drug Administration is expected to rule soon that milk from cloned animals and meat from their offspring is safe to eat, raising the question of whether Americans are ready to welcome one of modern biology's most controversial achievements to the dinner table. Hundreds of cloned pigs, cows and other animals are already living on farms around the country, as companies and livestock producers experiment and await a decision from the FDA. The agricultural industry has observed a voluntary FDA moratorium on using the products of clones, but it has recently become clear that a few offspring of cloned pigs and cows are already trickling into the food supply. Many in agriculture believe such genetic copies are the next logical step in improving the nation's livestock. Consumer groups counter that many Americans are likely to be revolted by the idea of serving clone milk to their children or tossing meat from the progeny of clones onto the backyard grill. This "yuck factor," as it's often called, has come to light repeatedly in public opinion surveys. Asked earlier this year in a poll by the International Food Information Council whether they would willingly buy meat, milk and eggs that come from clones if the FDA declared them to be safe, 63 percent of consumers said no. Yet mounting scientific evidence suggests there is little cause for alarm, at least on food-safety grounds. Studies have shown that meat and milk from clones can't be distinguished from that of normal animals, although work is not complete and researchers say that clones do suffer subtle genetic abnormalities. While milk from clones might reach grocery shelves, clones themselves are not likely to be eaten, since they cost thousands of dollars apiece to produce. They'd be used as breeding stock, so the real question is whether their sexually produced offspring would be safe. The FDA has been promising a policy for three years, but hasn't produced a final version, and some biotechnology companies involved in cloning have run out of cash while waiting. Weary livestock producers have dubbed the FDA the "Foot Dragging Administration." When the birth of Dolly the sheep, the first mammal cloned from an adult cell, was announced in 1997, American farmers and ranchers were as shocked as anyone. But by now, thousands of farm families have seen clones at agricultural fairs and grown comfortable with the idea. Cloning involves sucking the nucleus out of an egg, injecting a new nucleus from an adult cell and implanting the resulting embryo into a surrogate mother animal. Clones appear to be nearly identical genetic copies of the adult progenitor. Studies in the United States and Japan have shown meat from the offspring of clones to be nutritionally sound, and more research is underway. A clone is "a copy of the animals we already ate," Polejaeva said. "There's nothing different about them." There are in fact subtle genetic abnormalities even in healthy-looking clones, said Konrad Hochedlinger, a scientist at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research in Cambridge, Mass., citing multiple studies in mice. Published research shows risks to the health of clones at all stages of their lives. But the genetic problems aren't likely to alter the food value of clones and aren't passed on to their sexually produced offspring, Hochedlinger said. So far, only scattered opposition has emerged to farm cloning. Animal-welfare groups have come out against it, saying it poses unnecessary risks to farm animals. The FDA has made clear it won't require labels on clone products, which may leave meat-eaters who want to avoid them little practical way to do so. Among those watching warily as the FDA announces a policy will be the huge conglomerates that buy agricultural products and turn them into groceries.