EU policy convoluted on cloned farm animals

Monday, December 6, 2010

The European Union Commission has proposed a five-year ban on animal cloning in food production, but allows imports of food from cloned animals. The proposal follows a report tabled before the European Parliament in October, which sparked controversy and criticism.

The Commission's reasoning? There's nothing unsafe been found about meat and dairy products from cloned animals, but there is concern about animal welfare implications and ethics. Cloning is successful less than 20 per cent of the time and many cloned animals die shortly after birth, or after a shortened lifespan.

Cloning is allowed in the United States and the European Union (EU) says meat, milk, and reproductive products aren't traceable in the food chain. Veterinary certificates required for trade within the EU and outside cover infectious diseases, but do not contain information about reproductive technology.

Denmark is the only country that has specifically imposed a national ban on the use of animal cloning for commercial purposes. The United Kingdom has three cattle that are progeny of clones imported as embryos. France has 32 cloned cows, which are used for research purposes only.

The Commission report estimates that 600,000 calves born in the EU in 2010 will be from semen imported from the United States and Canada, but "there is no information about the number of doses of imported semen coming from cloned bulls."

Consumption of cloned meat and dairy is not allowed in Canada pending a Health Canada review. BF