Cloned Meat May Already Have Invaded Our Food Supply, Posing Alarming Health Risks

[another saigon]

By Martha Rosenberg, AlterNet

Posted on August 20, 2010, Printed on August 20, 2010

http://www.alternet.org/story/147878/

It's just a matter of time before we are eating clones, if we are not eating them now.

When Canadian agricultural leaders asked Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack last week after a scandal about unlabeled clone products in Europe if "cloned cows or their offspring have made it into the North American food supply," he said, "I can't say today that I can answer your question in an affirmative or negative way. I don’t know."

And when AlterNet asked the USDA this week if cloned products are already in the food supply, a spokesman said the department was "not aware of an instance where product from an animal clone has entered the food supply" thanks to a "voluntary moratorium"-- but that offspring of clones, at the heart of the Europe scandal," are not clones and are therefore not included" in the voluntary moratorium.

Sounds like Europe is not the only place eating milk and meat from unlabeled clone offspring. In fact, the BBC, UK newspapers and even a US grocer all report that US consumers are digging into clone food, whether or not they know it.

Like bovine growth hormone and Roundup Ready crops, the government says clone products are so safe they don't need to be labeled. But the 2008 FDA report (PDF), Animal Cloning: A Risk Assessment and a report from the European Food Safety Authority released at the same time, raise questions about the health of cloned animals, the safety of their milk and meat and even the soundness of the clone process itself.

[Lance_Boyle]

1. Identical DNA is identical DNA, right?

Shit, we've been eating cloned plants for centuries. What's the schmeef?

[realisticphish]

2. this is what confuses me

this is just identical DNA. So what's the big deal? I'm not dismissing it, I'd just like to see the research

[Mz Pip]

3. I'd like to see the research too.

To me there is something kind of creepy about cloning animals, but feeling creepy about something doesn't mean it's something that is bad for you. I think eating escargot is creepy but I don't think it's harmful.

I guess I would like to see cloned products labeled so I can decide if I'm sufficiently creeped out enough to not buy them.

[hugo_from_TN]

10. For me there's something creepy about eating animals

but that's just me. The cloning part doesn't seem to be a big deal.

[GoCubsGo]

22. I'd like to see a good reason why there's a need to clone animals for food

I can't imagine that it's somehow cheaper than the old-fashioned way of producing more animals. I really don't see the point of it.

[Blues Heron]

4. from the article

many clones lack the ability to "reprogram the somatic nucleus of the donor to the state of a fertilized zygote," says the FDA report and be the perfect replica a clone is supposed to be.

The reprogamming problem, called epigenetic dysregulation, means many clones -- some say 90 percent -- are born with deformities, enlarged umbilical cords, respiratory distress, heart and intestine problems and Large Offspring Syndrome, the latter often killing the clone and its "mother," the surrogate dam. Clones that survive epigenetic dysregulation often require surgery, oxygen and transfusions at birth, eat insatiably but do not necessarily gain weight and fail to maintain normal temperatures, admits the report.

[mike_c]

21. there's lots of misunderstanding going on here....

First, a clone IS genetically identical to its parent. That is the definition of "clone." Second, genetic identity is not the same as phenotypic identity, because every organism is the product of its gene expressions and their interactions with its environment (including its internal environment). That's why one identical twin can turn out taller than another, or heavier, or whatever. Don't confuse genotype with phenotype.

Third, epigenetic dysregulation affects gene expression, not genetic identity, therefore it changes phenotype, not genotype. Clones suffering disorders caused by epigenetic dysregulation are still clones, i.e. they are still genetically identical to their parent.

Finally, as far as food derived from animal tissue is concerned, any heritable decline in muscle production, fat distribution, and so on would decrease the value of an animal for consumption, so any such animals would normally be excluded from food production, but even if they weren't the worst that's likely to happen is that they might not be as tasty, or as juicy, or whatever, as their parent was. But as long as their DNA is identical and they were raised to maturity under similar conditions, it's hard to believe that most wouldn't be just as wholesome and delicious as their parent.

[Warpy]

5. We're already eating as close to cloned cattle as we can get

(speaking for the meat eaters) because of the way cattle are bred, using semen from one or two bulls per herd, generation after generation, until the DNA of the whole herd is virtually indistinguishable. Eventually, nature will side with some hidden flaw and such monoculture herds will be wiped out overnight. Until then, they're near clones of each other.

The problem with actual cloning so far is a shortening of lifespan from generation to generation, something that will not affect the creature eating its meat.

My own feeling is that both cloning and monoculture of anything are bad ideas, probably because I'm a Harp and some of us have long memories for history that extend back to the Potato Famine. However, this is how the food supply got cheap enough that even poor folks could afford hamburger every day.

It'll bite us in the butt eventually, but it's not unsafe to eat.

[LaurenG]

6. I wonder why alarming health risks are posed?

What would be the difference in cloned that could hurt people?

[Zoeisright]

7. Something wonky in the genetic code of clones could be carcinogenic and we don't know it yet.

That's the difference.

[realisticphish]

9. that's true of the genetic code of every living thing nt

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

12. The genetic code of the clone is the same as the original.

Hence the term "clone."

[Warpy]

15. That would be true of the original animal, as well

so that argument is not a sound one.

In any case, our guts snip all proteins, including the nucleic acids, into manageable amino acids we can absorb and use to build our own cells.

[mike_c]

20. the genes of a clone are identical to those of the parent...

...so any such "wonkiness" must have been present BEFORE cloning, and isn't any result of cloning at all. You do know that we eat cloned plants all the time, right?

[EmilyKent]

8. There aren't any health risks.

It's an expensive and wasteful way of doing things, but not harmful. People just want something else to panic about, and the media found out long ago that 'fear' sells.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

11. Giant tentacled japanese robots might be violating our teenage daughters at any moment.

Run for the hills.

[LaurenG]

14. stop it

:spray: :rofl:

[Lilith Velkor]

13. BOOGA BOOGA!

:eyes:

[SpiralHawk]

16. Mutant, cloned, chem-saturated RepubliCorporate fasimile food crapola

The so-called mainstream food supply is totally polluted with this crap, and of course the are bringing IRRADIATION into the picture, too.

Then all this corporOcrapola so-called 'food' will be exposed to radiation to make it 'safer.'

Screw all dat. The mutant food chain is what is creating TeaBagliCons with their mutant 'thought' processes. Easy to pick them out on the internets. Scientists call them FructoProns or SyrupHeads or some such variant.

Eschew their trollish sockpuppetry, as thou woulds't eschew mutant chem-saturated food.

Aspire to be a human being. Eat clean food.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

17. lol

irradiation

[SpiralHawk]

18. More evidence released today that agro chemicals make people seriously sick

One more in the many, many, many studies coming out about how crappy corporate 'food' is toxic to human beings.


August 20, 2010 — Exposure to organophosphate pesticides, especially prenatally, significantly increase susceptibility to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children born to Mexican American women in the Salinas Valley, an area of intensive agriculture and heavy pesticide use.

These latest findings support previous results from a study published in the June issue of Pediatrics and reported by Medscape Medical News at that time that showed US children with higher levels of organophosphate pesticide metabolites in their urine were more likely to have ADHD compared with their counterparts with lower levels."

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/727225

[another saigon]

23. what a great link!

thank you. I was a very good vegetarian while pregnant with my children. It has been very easy to raise them as vegetarians as well. If only more people could give up the meat.

[anarch]

19. well that's nice and all, but I'm still not eating any meat until it's grown in a vat

otherwise, I just can't justify it ethically. Cloned animals have feelings too!

wait...what? you say that's not the point of this article? so, they're not saying eating cloned meat is a good thing? well, nevermind then. Call me when they start growing meat in a vat, from stem cells or something.