FDA Affirms Safety of Meat and Milk From Cloned Animals

According to an article published in the Jan 1, 2007 issue of Theriogenology, FDA has determined that meat and milk derived from cloned animals, including cattle, swine and goats, is safe and does not require any labeling to distinguish it. The article notes that, in addition to affirming the safety of food from cloned animals and outlining the methodology used to come to this conclusion, FDA has proposed some plans to manage any identified risks (see doi:10.1016/j.theriogenology.2006.09.033 to view the articles abstract; the issue also includes a handful of related articlessee http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/0093691X for more information).

The article also discusses some possible approaches for communicating the safety of such food to the public. This will prove important since recent surveys have shown that 64% of Americans are uncomfortable with cloning and 43% believe food that from clones is unsafe, as reported in a recent Los Angeles Times article (see http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/la-sci-clones23dec23,1,2503297.story).

For complete details on FDA's statement and to view information related to the 90-day public comment period, see http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2006/NEW01541.html. To view FDA's clone risk assessment, see http://www.fda.gov/cvm/CloneRiskAssessment.htm.