Consumer concerns and a potential trade war: meat from cloned animals [VIDEO]
The issue of meat from cloned animals is included in the Novel Foods Regulation (Regulation (EC) No 258/97) and the conciliation proceedings are currently underway in the European Parliament. Cloning has in fact been one of the most controversial and thorny components in this proposed legislation.
The European Parliament has repeatedly reiterated its opposition to meat and milk produced from cloned animals and wants to exclude food derived from cloned animals or their offspring from the Novel Foods Regulation. However, the European Commission, backed by many member states including the UK, wants a more limited, temporary (5 year) ban that would apply only to clones and not their progeny. The European Commission has proposed this ban as a way of breaking the deadlock with the European Parliament over the Novel Foods Directive.
Conservative MEPs have always been wary about the issue of cloning of animals for food production due to ethical and animal welfare concerns, including the high mortality rate of both clones and surrogate mothers and the often increased size of cloned animals when they are born, causing severe animal welfare problems for the surrogate mother. Nevertheless, world experts now assert that such problems have been overcome. According to the findings of EFSA (European Food Safety Authority), meat and milk from cloned animals is no different to that from a conventionally bred animal.
The ECR Group supports the five year temporary ban for cloning related to food production but urges to Commission to use this time to monitor the scientific and technological development of cloning in order to assess whether, or when, these measures should be removed. In the meantime, the ECR Group believes that cloning for research, for the production of pharmaceuticals and for the conservation of endangered species is acceptable.
