Soon you can have your steak and eat it too. Again and again.

[techs]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061227/ap_on_he_me/cloned_food

FDA set to OK food from cloned animals

Federal scientists have concluded there is no difference between food from cloned animals and food from conventional livestock, setting the stage for the government to declare Thursday that cloned animals are safe for the human food supply.

The Food and Drug Administration planned to brief industry groups in advance of an announcement. The agency indicated it would approve cloned livestock in a scientific journal article published online earlier this month.

The agency "concludes that meat and milk from clones and their progeny is as safe to eat as corresponding products derived from animals produced using contemporary agricultural practices," FDA scientists Larisa Rudenko and John C. Matheson wrote in the Jan. 1 issue of Theriogenology.

Also, FDA believes that no special labels are needed for food from clones or their offspring, the scientists wrote. Consumer groups say labels are a must, because surveys have shown people to be uncomfortable with the idea of cloned livestock.

"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.

Carol Tucker Foreman, director of food policy at the Consumer Federation of America, said the FDA is ignoring research that shows cloning results in more deaths and deformed animals than other reproductive technologies.



Let me get this straight. So far they have successfully cloned very few animals. Perhaps as few as two or three dozen large mammals. Yet, the FDA has already decided it is perfectly safe to eat cloned animals?
So does this mean I can now go to the supermarket and get a steak labeled from one specific cow and if I like it keep eating that same steak from that same cow (only a different same cow) every time?
My head is spinning over wtf is going on here.

 

[jackschmittusa]

What problem do you think there will be with cloned meat?

The quality of the meat you buy is the result of far more than its genetics. It is also influenced by feed, exercise, climat, general health, etc..

Cloning an animal that has the proper potential is only the first step in delivering a good product to the table.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Medically speaking, I can see no harm in cloning beef cattle. However, as a Chef, I dislike any food production process which limits variety, level of quality, and number of purveyors.

 

[Craig234]

I can imagine that the animal is safe to eat. But what are the ramifications for the species' evolution? The business aspects would make them happy to get one 'great' animal with no disease etc., and clone it millions of times perhaps, but so much for biological diversity and evolution.

 

[ebaycj]

Yeah from a NUTRITIONAL basis, meat is basically meat whether it's cloned or not.

When you eat it you aren't absorbing cow genetic material, you are dumping it into a vat of hydrochloric acid to break it down into it's constituent proteins which are then used by your body for energy / growth. You would get the same benefit if you: ate a normal steak. ate a cloned steak. ate a mix of lab-created proteins that was identical to the previous steaks in composition.

I don't see the big deal.

What I do see as a big deal is the FDA allowing genetically modified VIRUSES to be sprayed on meat and used as preservatives (which they approved already earlier this year). This treated meat is not required to have any special labeling. I think they underestimate a virus's ability to mutate.

 

[Craig234]

ebay, I, like most here, are not expert enough to really appreciate the level of threat of some of these policies.

But I do know to be worried that our political process is *so* dominated by the industries who stand to profit from shortcuts overwhelming the government's concern for public safety in some cases. I want a government back who puts the citizen first.

When it comes to genetic modifcation of viruses in our food, call me a bit of a conservative. I'm not a luddite just opposing it out of ignorance, but I think we should be careful.

 

[lozina]

All I can say is WTF to no labelling?! I don't give a rat's ass what they clone or who eats it, just don't give it to me, and don't try to trick me by mixing it in with 'normal' meat without some indication on the label about it being from a cloned animal. It could be some little symbol tucked away in a corner of the labnel like they do for Kosher foods- just distinguish it from the normal stuff, please!

 

[Extelleron]

Originally posted by: lozina
All I can say is WTF to no labelling?! I don't give a rat's ass what they clone or who eats it, just don't give it to me, and don't try to trick me by mixing it in with 'normal' meat without some indication on the label about it being from a cloned animal. It could be some little symbol tucked away in a corner of the labnel like they do for Kosher foods- just distinguish it from the normal stuff, please!

Why? What difference does it make whether the beef you eat came from a cow or an exact copy of that same cow?

 

[lozina]

Originally posted by: Extelleron

Originally posted by: lozina
All I can say is WTF to no labelling?! I don't give a rat's ass what they clone or who eats it, just don't give it to me, and don't try to trick me by mixing it in with 'normal' meat without some indication on the label about it being from a cloned animal. It could be some little symbol tucked away in a corner of the labnel like they do for Kosher foods- just distinguish it from the normal stuff, please!

Why? What difference does it make whether the beef you eat came from a cow or an exact copy of that same cow?

The difference? One animal is cloned the other is not! That's the difference.

How could we possibly know about any long term consquences of cloned beef when the first cow was cloned in 1999 ? When I do a quick search on cloned animals, I find articles referencing many problems with cloned animals health and immune systems, how they may appear energetic and healthy then suddenly and inexplicitly die.

That's why I want labels, and why do you care so much about my personal preference for what I want to eat? I will gladly pay any extra premium on my normal beef for the added cost of putting a 10x10 pixel symbol on the labels to distinguish cloned meat from normal meat. It should be my choiceas a consumer. It is important to me.

 

[steppinthrax]

I feel anybody who makes such clams about the food being unsafe or saying they feel uncomfortable eating it just don't have enough knowledge period. Cloning meat can be a good thing becuase scientist will be able to pick the best animal to be cloned. In that case certain cattle won't be predisposed to certain diseases and scientist will be able to filter out the bad. Most counteries use Microwave radiation to kill bateria on meat anyway. Unfortunatley when that idea was proposed in the states people opposed it. Most counteries use microwave raditation to kill bacteria in meat. It is more effective then chemicals or any other methods. It is those slow people that keep this country behind.

 

[lozina]

Originally posted by: steppinthrax
I feel anybody who makes such clams about the food being unsafe or saying they feel uncomfortable eating it just don't have enough knowledge period. Cloning meat can be a good thing becuase scientist will be able to pick the best animal to be cloned. In that case certain cattle won't be predisposed to certain diseases and scientist will be able to filter out the bad. Most counteries use Microwave radiation to kill bateria on meat anyway. Unfortunatley when that idea was proposed in the states people opposed it. Most counteries use microwave raditation to kill bacteria in meat. It is more effective then chemicals or any other methods. It is those slow people that keep this country behind.

Oh yeah, so you're the one with all the knowledge right? Thanks, Dr. Pompous for your brilliant comments.

Look, if you want to ignore known problems with cloned animals, that's fine by me. It's not in my slightest interest to stop companies from cloning beef and putting it on store shelves, or telling you you shouldn't eat it. By all means, go full steam ahead! I really don't care. But when you try shoving that expiramental garbage into my face and telling me what I shoudl eat, that's when we got a problem. Leave me and whoever else wants to avoid the cloned beef with our right to eat what we want with proper labels of the food and everyone is happy. Is that too fvcking much to ask for? Like I said, we'll gladly pay for any extra cost incurred by the labelling. Trust me, there are plenty of us, too.

 

[KB]

I am far more worried about plants with fish genes than I am about cloned meat. As long as it is cow meat and not man/bear/pig meat I will be OK with it.

One concern farmers should have is if the cloned animal is found to be susceptible to a certain disease the entire line could be wiped out in the style of the irish potato famine.

 

[1EZduzit]

What's this world coming to?? Cloned meat that was grown/fattened with gentically modifed corn and then irradiated with radiation to kill the ecoli??

I guess it's better then soylent green though.

That said, it should be labeled. The consumer has a right to know what he is buying.

 

[steppinthrax]

Originally posted by: lozina

Originally posted by: steppinthrax
I feel anybody who makes such clams about the food being unsafe or saying they feel uncomfortable eating it just don't have enough knowledge period. Cloning meat can be a good thing becuase scientist will be able to pick the best animal to be cloned. In that case certain cattle won't be predisposed to certain diseases and scientist will be able to filter out the bad. Most counteries use Microwave radiation to kill bateria on meat anyway. Unfortunatley when that idea was proposed in the states people opposed it. Most counteries use microwave raditation to kill bacteria in meat. It is more effective then chemicals or any other methods. It is those slow people that keep this country behind.

Oh yeah, so you're the one with all the knowledge right? Thanks, Dr. Pompous for your brilliant comments.

Look, if you want to ignore known problems with cloned animals, that's fine by me. It's not in my slightest interest to stop companies from cloning beef and putting it on store shelves, or telling you you shouldn't eat it. By all means, go full steam ahead! I really don't care. But when you try shoving that expiramental garbage into my face and telling me what I shoudl eat, that's when we got a problem. Leave me and whoever else wants to avoid the cloned beef with our right to eat what we want with proper labels of the food and everyone is happy. Is that too fvcking much to ask for? Like I said, we'll gladly pay for any extra cost incurred by the labelling. Trust me, there are plenty of us, too.

The main problem in this world are with people like you. This country has been genetically eng the foods we eat for a long time now. Corn, rice etc.. has been changed in some way on a genetic scale to make it more economical/tasty/healty etc.... No matter how much you don't like it one way or another cloned animals will be in your stores.

 

[lozina]

Originally posted by: steppinthrax


The main problem in this world are with people like you. This country has been genetically eng the foods we eat for a long time now. Corn, rice etc.. has been changed in some way on a genetic scale to make it more economical/tasty/healty etc.... No matter how much you don't like it one way or another cloned animals will be in your stores.

A "Long time now"? Maybe if you're 12. For the rest of us they are still a new concept. And again, you are making this obstinate presumption that I don't want cloned meat in stores. How many times do I need to re-iterate for you that I don't care? It's not my business what food you eat and I won't try to tell you what you should eat, so don't try and tell me what I should eat. I just want that cloned meat to have some label so I can avoid it. And I don't eat GMO goods either, thanks. Luckily I can shop in the store for foods labelled Organic/Non- GMO to avoid that too.

Troll elsewhere.