Thursday, December 28, 2006

No Labeling of Cloned Food, says FDA

From the AP and CNN:
The government has decided that food from cloned animals is safe to eat and does not require special labeling.
The Food and Drug Administration planned to brief industry groups in advance of an announcement Thursday morning. The FDA indicated it would approve cloned livestock in a scientific journal article published online earlier this month.
Consumer groups say labels are a must, because surveys have shown people to be uncomfortable with the idea of cloned livestock.
However, FDA concluded that cloned animals are "virtually indistinguishable" from conventional livestock and that no identification is needed to judge their safety for the food supply...but critics of cloning say the verdict is still out on the safety of food from cloned animals.
"Consumers are going to be having a product that has potential safety issues and has a whole load of ethical issues tied to it, without any labeling," said Joseph Mendelson, legal director of the Center for Food Safety.

For the whole story, click here.

1 comment:

Chris MacDonald said...

Interesting how surveys showing that people are "uncomfortable" with the idea of cloned livestock apparently (mysteriously) make labelling "a must!"

Here's my take:
http://www.businessethics.ca/blog/2006/12/cloned-meat-milk.html