More on Cloning
A poll conducted on behalf of the Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology examined Americans’ opinions on the consumption of food coming from cloned animals. According to The Washington Post, “The Pew Initiative is a Washington organization set up with foundation money to provide a forum for discussing controversial issues related to biotechnology and the food supply. The group is deliberately neutral. The poll released yesterday, of 1,000 adults interviewed by telephone Oct. 10-16, is one of the largest to date to ask questions about cloning and food.”
Most scientists feel that products (e.g., meat and milk) from cloned animals are safe and are indistinguishable from regular food. The FDA says that it is likely to approve milk and meat from cloned animals. Of course livestock breeders and cloning companies are all for it, but some food safety and environmental groups are against introducing products from cloned animals into the marketplace. The rest are stuck in the middle, reassured by scientific data that the products are safe but concerned about public backlash.
Here are the results:
Do you feel comfortable or uncomfortable about cloning?
66% of respondents were uncomfortable or strongly uncomfortable
24% were comfortable or strongly comfortable
Do you think that food from clones is safe or unsafe?
43% of respondents felt it would be unsafe, with 28% feeling strongly about it
34% had no opinion
Another recent poll on behalf of ViaGen Inc., a Texas cloning company, asked people if they would buy products from cloned animals if it were declared safe by the FDA. Put that way, 29% of respondents said that they would purchase such products, 34% said that they would consider it if they had more information, and 35% said that they would never buy such products.
Pollsters from both surveys stated that these results do not necessarily predict buyer behavior once such food is available in stores. For example, approximately 50% of consumers are against genetic modification of plant crops, but evidently don’t realize that such products have been around for 10 years and are in most packaged foods today because the FDA doesn’t require labeling.
Here’s the kicker: the FDA doesn’t intend to label products from cloned animals, either. Direct quote from one of the pollsters: “If it does get out there with no serious safety problems, unlabeled, people will eat it. As long as they don't think they're eating it, they'll be fine."
So what is that?? The food industry wants to tell me how many fat grams I’m eating in my Big Mac (McDonald’s is going to start putting nutrition labels on their packaging), but they don’t feel it necessary to tell me if my food has been genetically modified or cloned? Regardless of my stance on either of those topics, I’d like to be able to have the chance to make my own decision!!
If you want my honest opinion, it’s almost enough to make me go completely vegetarian, if they’re going to start mixing cloned meats into my regular food. Then in 10 years when we can see whether people start having mutant babies or not, then I’ll consider eating it. I think that the more you mess with nature, the more you ask for trouble.
My opinions aside, what do you think?
Comments
On Dec 5 at 10:23 AM said:
Would a corporation lie to sell a product? History says yes. Pick a industry ( medical, yes it is a industry, education another industry, pick one, any one industry and do the due diligence ). our goverment seldom regulates unless there are bodies in the street which have been on the news in more than one time zone. Genetically modified orgainisms ( GMO ), most often make it all the way through the compost cycle ( they do not degrade, perhaps they will, generous optimism on my part ), so if it is not too contaminate the rest of the soil foodweb, perhaps just let the scientist and their lawyers eat this for a generation or two. few scientist ( they are people after all ) will walk away from their employers who call the tune and pay their ( the scientists, an employee ) for the results they "want". Lean meat from cows forced to eat cows, cement and growth hormones, FDA say that is OK with us, just keep the money rolling in next election...
On Dec 5 at 10:23 AM said:
Of course the scientists are going to say, "it's safe" bon appetite! Now let's cash the million dollar check for having approved the foods, we'll spend it and be merry. However, they're not the ones 50-years from now, be alive and suffering from say an unknow sting of diabeties, or say heart disease, or what about cancer? Idiots. They would sell there own mother to the devil if they could get a gold piece.
On Mar 24 at 07:22 PM S. Rogers said:
I am one of those people who will never voluntarily eat genetically modified anything. Does anyone know if organically labelled food can be genetically modified?
On Mar 28 at 07:15 PM Violet said:
I have been considering becoming a vegetarian for health reasons, but if they start using cloned animals, I won't eat meat anymore. It doesn't seem at all sanitary or fair that they aren't going to label it for the consumer to choose if they wish to eat it. Although I can see where the FDA is coming from because the cloned sheep Dolly didn't appear to have anything physcially wrong with her and she was still able to reproduce. This may be true, but they may have overlooked something like a mutation in cloned organisms. If it gets out then it would be hard to get rid of and they could forget about tring to cover it up.
On Mar 28 at 07:38 PM Violet said:
To answer the question above "Does anyone know if organically labelled food can be genetically modified?", the answer is no. I found it in an article I read recently. It said that if you didn't buy a food exclusively organic, than chances are that you are genetically altered food.
On Apr 27 at 09:30 AM carolyn Kaiser said:
The show "Inside Dish" showing at 10am April 27th is totally pathedic. I don't need to see mocking Julia Child or see Rachel half in the bag.
On Jan 2 at 05:22 PM Scott said:
I have to say that it is really great to see that I'm not alone in thinking this food cloning isnt't a good idea. I couldn't believe what I was reading when I read it. I ate a steak on New Years day and I thought, this could be one of the last steaks I'd ever eat and maybe I should really enjoy it. I think I could really for the first time in my life think about going vegitarian. I also think though that nobody in a free country has the right to dictate to us that we're going to eat something that goes totaly against our moral fiber. I say what next? We have a right to know what we are eating, and if we don't want to cloned meat we should have a choice in the matter.
On Dec 5 at 10:23 AM said:
Even if you go compleatly Veagan odds are you'll still be eating fruits and veggies that have been genetically modified. Cloning and genetic modification are not the evil they are made out to be. The oppritive word here is IMPROVED. Science has been able to genetically modify a rice that has more beta carotene in it so that malnurished children in India, where rice is a staple and often the only food they have, can have better eyesight. The Flavor-Saver tomato is alomost every grocery store in the United States and thanks to that technology I can keep fresh tomatoes in my fridge almost a week longer than normal tomatoes. This is all for the betterment of the food we eat, to make it last longer, make it more nutritous, make it of a higher quality. By cloning animals with desirable traits such as superiour marbleing or leaness we can get consistant supplys of quality meat in the supermarket thus making it more affordable. I see nothing bad about any of the cloning or genetic modifications and because these foods are no different than there non-modified counterparts theres no reason for the FDA to make special lableing requirements. I say bring it on!