By Philip Smet

A study sponsored by the European Commission shows that, at least for the
foreseeable future, European farmers will be not be raising any cloned cows
or pigs. In addition, more research into cloning techniques is deemed
necessary. However, the EC study does show that eating ?clone meat' does not
pose any health risks to consumers.

In 1997, the sheep Dolly was front-page news. Dolly did not have a normal
father or mother: she was cloned from the cell of another sheep. Today,
scientists are capable of much more, and the food industry can't wait to
apply the new technology. This is the reason why the European Food Safety
Authority has carried out a study into animal cloning. The European
Commission needs the results to formulate policy.

Acceptable or not

"There is a major impact of cloning on both health and welfare. The number
of cloned animals sick and dying is largely exceeding that of animals
produced through conventional reproduction methodologies. So I think one of
the evaluation decisions the managers will have to take is whether this
major impact on animal health and welfare of cloned animals is acceptable or
not."

In its report, EFSA makes numerous reservations because of a dearth of
reliable data. Only in the case of cows and pigs did scientists have enough
data to conclude that consumption of meat and milk of these animals was
safe. A US study reached the same conclusion. Professor Vittorio Silano,
chair of EFSA's scientific commission and one of the authors of the report,
says the large numbers of cloned animals that die young shows that adequate
supervision is key.

Question marks

There are still many question marks regarding the desirability of cloning.
Apart from moral and religious aspects, there are also doubts whether cloned
animals will eventually stay healthy. Could there be latent ailments or
diseases? Professor Silano wants to clear up a misunderstanding.

"The genes we are talking about are exactly the same as the nucleus of the
somatic cell which is normally used for cloning. So we are not introducing
new genes. This is a completely different situation from GMOs, genetically
modified organisms. The real issue is to be able to remove from the food
chain the sick animals, and only make use of the healthy animals. In fact,
the sickness or health of the clone is one of the main indicators of the
success of the cloning methodology."

The cloned animals - or their milk - are not intended for consumption. The
cloning process is too complicated and expensive to make that economically
viable. Healthy cloned animals will be used for further breeding; the
traditional way around.

Wary

The advantages - less disease, more meat and milk per animal - do not yet
outweigh the disadvantages. Dutch politicians and the business community are
still wary of cloning. Agriculture Minister Gerda Verburg first wants to
have an extensive ethical debate on the issue. The Dutch meat processing
industry follows developments from a distance, even though some meat
processing companies have made contributions to further research.

Last spring, Dutch farmers branch organisation LTO held a debate on cloning.

LTO policy official Klaas-Johan Osinga says: "We are opposed to cloning
because consumers do not want it. Also, cloning does not help us improve the
genetic quality of our livestock, as well as being too expensive". Many
other European farmers' organisations hold similar views.

Meat factory

So European consumers will not be drinking milk and eating meat from cloned
animals any time soon. At most from outside the European Union, should it
prove economically viable there. But it would have to be clearly labelled
for consumers as a product made from cloned animals.

There are scientists who predict there will be meat factories in future
which do not need any animals, cloned or otherwise. In these factories, meat
would be grown in jars, or something similar. It would eliminate the need to
butcher animals and the problem of manure pollution. But it remains to be
seen whether these considerations will persuade consumers to set aside their
ethical and practical objections.
www.checkbiotech.org