Japan Experts Say Cloned Animals Are Safe for Human Consumption

Cloned cows and pigs can be used for food as their meat and milk do not pose any health risk, an expert panel at Japan’s Food Safety Commission said today.
“Foods derived from cloned cows and swine, and from the offspring of clones, are as safe as food from conventionally bred animals,” the panel said in a report today after eight months of discussion over the issue.

The Food Safety Commission, a risk-assessment organization, will decide whether to recommend the safety of cloned animals to the health minister based on the report, a commission spokesman Yuichi Tsunoda said today. If the government acknowledges their safety, the decision will pave the way for Japan, Asia’s largest beef importer, to open its market for cloned animals from abroad.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a final report in January last year backing the use of cloned food, after a seven-year review.

To make clones, scientists grow copies of cells from the original animal in a lab dish, and then extract genetic material. The DNA from the animal to be cloned is inserted into an egg whose nucleus has been removed, and the resulting embryo is implanted in an animal that will serve as the clone’s surrogate mother.

Supporters say the technology is not a big leap from artificial insemination and makes it easier to produce high- quality meat at lower costs. Higher rates of stillbirths and deaths for clones raised concern among consumers that products from cloned animals may not be safe for human consumption.