Less Shuffle, No Cut Posted
by Reggie at 01/23/08 12:15 PM
Today's New York Times editorial on cloning by editorial board member Verlyn Klinkenborg raises an interesting and important point about the impact of cloning on genetic diversity. Klinkenborg analogizes to shuffling cards, and notes that cloning represents an unshuffled deck -- clearly not a benefit to all players. The editorial was in response to the FDA's recent action further clearing the way for meat and dairy from cloned animals to enter the food market.
Klinkenborg's objections are not based on health or safety, but rather the risks to plant and animal diversity and economic impacts on consumers and farmers. This is a viewpoint worth considering.
comments
(1)
1
Posted by Jeff Deasy at 02/17/08 07:54 AM
I have serious doubts about the FDA's assurances of the safety of eating cloned animals. The USDA would seem to share my concern as they have banned cloned animals and their progeny from organic food.
The Center for Food Safety, a non-profit public interest organization, has stated, “Given the lack of data regarding human health impacts, CFS believes the FDA was premature in pronouncing food from cloned animals to be safe to eat."
According to the Cornucopia Institute, a nonprofit farm policy research group, the realities of cloning include some disturbing phenomena:
• 64% of cattle, 40% of sheep, and 93% of cloned mice exhibit some form of abnormality, with a large percentage of the animals dying during gestation or shortly after birth
• High rates of late abortion and early prenatal death, with failure rates of 95% to 97% in most mammal cloning attempts
• Defects such as grossly oversized calves, enlarged tongues, squashed faces, intestinal blockages, immune deficiencies, and diabetes
• When cloning does not produce a normal animal, many of the difficult pregnancies cause physical suffering or death to the surrogate mothers
Mark Kastel of the Cornucopia Institute says, "Regardless of what the proponents claim this is all about bottom-line profit and producing more and more of our food from giant industrial-scale farming operations. We are getting so, so far away from farmer Jones and the intimate connection between the land, animals, and the people who care for them in a sustainable and regenerative system. I wish I could say this was science fiction."
