The future of swine research is here. See the winners (Boehringer Ingelheim)

Food from Clones Safe, Consumers Skeptical

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will most likely announce this week that meat and milk derived from cloned animals and their progeny is safe for human consumption. Some surveys, however, indicate that the consumer may have misgivings.

After years of extensive evaluation, the FDA has determined that food products derived from cloned animals and their progeny is "virtually identical" to products from conventional animals. The agency is prepared to recommend that meat and milk from cloned animals be allowed on grocery shelves and that there is no need to label the products differently.

Consumer acceptance of the products, however, has been questioned in a number of surveys conducted by various groups. Some of these studies have reportedly found that the public is largely uneducated or misinformed about what cloning actually entails. Consumers often do not differentiate this breeding method from biotechnology practices involving genetic modification and, as a result, express apprehension about consuming products derived from cloned animals.

This debate has led to discussion about what inputs the FDA should consider when making its determinations regarding the acceptability of a product for human use. The FDA's mission has always been to evaluate the societal impact of products within its jurisdiction scientifically and render a decision based solely on the results of those findings. Opponents of marketing food from cloned animals suggest that the agency should also take into account consumers' opinions regarding their willingness to accept those products particularly when the agency considers whether to require specific labeling guidelines to identify cloned products.