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Meat, Milk Of Clones Safe, FDA Set To Rule

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By RICK WEISS, The Washington Post

Published: January 5, 2008

WASHINGTON - Having completed a yearslong scientific review, the Food and Drug Administration is set to announce as early as next week that meat and milk from cloned farm animals and their offspring can start appearing on supermarket shelves, sources in contact with the agency said Friday.

The decision would be a notable act of defiance against Congress, which last month passed appropriations legislation recommending that any such approval be delayed pending further studies.

Moreover, the Senate version of the farm bill, yet to be reconciled with the House version, contains stronger, binding language that would block FDA action on cloned food, probably for years.

With a conference committee poised to finalize the farm bill in the next few weeks, that left the FDA a potentially narrow time frame within which to act if it wanted to settle the issue in sync with America's major meat trading partners.

New Zealand and Australia have released reports concluding that meat and milk from clones are safe. Canada and Argentina are reportedly close to doing the same.

Although European consumers are generally uncomfortable with agricultural biotechnology, the European Union's food safety agency is expected to endorse the safety of meat and milk from clones in a statement that could be released within the next week.

"The science seems to be leading them and us to the same conclusion," said a U.S. trade official, speaking on condition of anonymity because U.S. policy is under review.

The FDA has hinted strongly in the past year that it was ready to lift its "voluntary moratorium" on the marketing of milk and meat from clones and their offspring.

Multiple studies compiled by the agency have shown that the chemical composition of those products is virtually identical to that of milk and meat from conventionally bred animals. Studies in which rodents were fed food from clones have found no evidence of health effects.

Public opinion, however, has been negative on the issue, with some saying that not enough safety studies have been conducted and others concerned about the health of the clones, which are far more likely than ordinary farm animals to die early in life.

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