Healthy Bytes

Does that steak have a pedigree?

read time: 263 words, about a minute

The FDA has announced it will approve cloned animal products. This includes meat and poultry products as well as dairy products (milk, eggs, cheese, ect.).

What is a cloned animal? They remove the DNA from an egg and replace it with the DNA of another same species animal. (cow with cow, pig with pig, ect.). The egg is then electrically or chemically stimulated in a petri dish to start dividing. After a few days, it’s transplanted into a womb.

So basically the goal is to continue to take “the best” DNA and breed it. In the instance of milking cows, you want the DNA from the cows that produce the most milk.

The FDA claims cloned animals are ‘virtually indistinguishable’ from regular livestock. As such, it’s not necessary to separately distinguish or label them.

Carol Tucker Foreman, Consumer Federation of America director of food policy claims the FDA is ignoring research that shows cloning results in more deformed and dead offspring.

I’m not familiar with the research, but that has been true throughout history when people try to enhance certain characteristics through engineered breeding.

Beyond the health issue, some would argue there is a ethical issue. Some people are opposed to cloning. Heck, this administration has banned human cloning. Why is it not reasonable for people to ethically opposed to animal cloning. I suppose their only choice will be to go vegetarian

Not quite as out in the media is that scientist are currently working on ‘growing meat in a test tube’. Basically, your hamburger will be completely manufactured, no animals involved.

This entry was posted on Fri, 29.Dec.2006 at 1:29 pm and is filed under Eating, Health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.