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UK Agency Issues Cloning Report

Saturday, June 7, 2008 Source: USA
Posted in Cloning | Tagged Cloning

UK consumers have human health and food safety concerns, want required labeling, and have ethical concerns about animal welfare. I felt this might be of interest because it so closely mirrors Americans’ concerns, expressed in several surveys and most recently seen in an FDA-sponsored survey which was conducted in 2005 but made available through the freedom of information act earlier this year. 

Some key findings of the British report include:

When considered in the context of current breeding practices, animal cloning was seen by participants to be extremely different from other assisted reproductive technologies; it was felt to represent a leap from ‘giving mother nature a helping hand’ to ‘interfering with nature’.

Participants were less focused on the question of ‘how does cloning work?’. The majority were focused on ‘why is cloning being used?’ and ‘what are the consequences?’ Participants struggled to identify any tangible consumer benefits and were concerned that the main motive would be a financial one to biotech companies and livestock breeders, among others.

Participants became increasingly concerned about the impact the technique has on animal welfare. This became a significant factor behind their reluctance to accept food derived from cloned animals. Other ethical concerns raised were about where the technology is going and whether we, mankind, have the moral right to pursue such a course.

Participants were concerned that cloning could result in food that was unsafe for human consumption; this was partly a function of the perceived high incidence of miscarriages and deformed and short-lived offspring.

Respondents feared that the process of cloning might somehow create new diseases or affect food in some way that will be harmful to humans and that the impact on human health and well being may only become apparent at some unforeseen point in the future.

There was a major mismatch between the methods used by regulatory authorities to assess food safety and the public’s perception of what is needed. Participants wanted to see methods for assessing food safety that were similar to the approach used in clinical drugs trials.

If food derived from clones and their offspring were to go on sale in the UK, the research provides a clear steer in terms of what would provide consumer confidence. Consumers overwhelmingly want regulations in place that address the entire process; these should be monitored and enforced and should be fully transparent to the consumer. Clones and their offspring should be fully traceable throughout the food chain and food should be labeled to enable consumers to make an informed choice.

There was a call for a program of continuing independent research to improve the efficiency of the cloning process and to prove that food derived from clones is safe to eat.

The full report can be found here:

http://www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/clonereport.pdf