Saturday Quack – Cloned Cattle Won’t Kill You

One thing the FDA can do extremely well – find out if a new drug or food is likely to cause you to drop dead. In general – and especially in the food area – they act with caution and rigor. So when they pronounce that milk and meat from the offspring of cloned cattle, pigs, and goats is harmless, I believe them. And I tend to pour scorn on those who would like to ban all animal cloning. The FDA document is published in draft form on their website, and is open for public comment until March 31.

When you think about it, cloning by farmers will almost certainly be used in the same way as any other elite breeding process – to pass on naturally-occurring desirable traits, such as disease resistance or higher quality meat or milk yield. The FDA examination of data revealed no evidence that there was no difference between cloned and conventionally-bred animals. But because of the costs involved, it’s highly improbable that farm-related cloning will be used for anything other than a substitute for sexually-reproduced designed offspring.

Better for angst-ridden opponents to turn their attention to the next topic on their agenda – genetically-engineered wheat. Europe and other parts of the world have embraced it, but the USA is still having problems . . .