FDA Cloning Study Coming Soon

Livestock groups have been monitoring the issue of animal cloning for years, but in the coming weeks, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is expected to take the first step in determining whether to allow food from cloned livestock to be sold. The FDA will issue a draft risk assessment on meat and milk products from cloned animals and their progeny.

In media reports, FDA officials are declining to forecast their findings, but after three years of research, most signs point to a conclusion that there is no difference between food from cloned animals and normally bred animals.

Cloning is an assisted reproductive technology that allows livestock breeders and others to create identical twins of their best animals. This breeding technique does not change the genetic make-up of the animal.

Cattle producers support the development of new technology that can further enhance the safety and quality of beef products, but the technology comes with a high price tag and is likely to be used only for replicating the most elite breeding stock.  Food products will still be derived from conventionally-produced offspring, and scientists agree that offspring of cloned animals are not clones.

In addition, research is proving that meat from the offspring of cloned animals is indistinguishable from (and just as safe as) meat from offspring of conventional animals.

When the FDA releases the draft risk assessment – expected before the end of the year – NCBA will review the information and submit comments. But experts still say it will likely be at least two years before meat derived from offspring of cloned parents will be available at retail. For more information please visit www.clonesafety.org.