Brussels, 08/09/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 8 September, the European Parliament unambiguously opposed the cloning of all farm animals, the marketing of cloned animals or living cloned embryos for the commercialisation of products such as milk or meat from cloned animals, as well as imports into the EU of the descendants of cloned animals or foodstuffs emanating from the descendants of these clones.
MEPs voted comfortably in favour (529 votes in favour, 120 against, with 57 abstentions) of a general ban on cloning for human food or animal feed, in the interests of animal health, well-being and the environment.
They also called on the EU to legislate by introducing a regulation and system of certification for exporters of animal clone-derived products in to the EU, in an effort to ensure the traceability of these foods and subsequently guarantee application of the regulation. In so doing, they have considerably expanded the scope of the Commission's proposal of December 2013. By way of two draft directives, the Commission exclusively sought a temporary moratorium on the use of cloning techniques for just five species of animal, a ban on imports of live clones and a ban on the marketing of food products obtained from cloned animals but did not introduce any mandatory labelling for food from the descendants of cloned animals, which are the only ones that can be imported into the EU (see EUROPE 10988).
The two co-rapporteurs, Renate Sommer (EPP, Germany) for the Environment Committee and Giulia Moi (EFDD, Italy), from the Agriculture Committee, welcomed this vote. Speaking before the vote, Renate Sommer stated: “The technique of cloning is not fully mature, and in fact, no further progress has been made with it. The mortality rate remains equally high. Many of the animals which are born alive die in the first few weeks, and they die painfully. Should we allow that? Up to now, we have been able to import reproductive material from third countries (North America, perhaps South America and China). We are washing our hands letting others do the dirty work. We want to ban comprehensively. Not just the use of cloning techniques but the imports of reproductive material, clones and their descendants. Traceability is possible. There are pedigree books, breeding books, stock books available. I'd like to ask the European Commission to rethink this whole thing”. The majority of MEPs appear to understand but not the European Commission.
Giulia Moi (EFDD, Italy) highlighted the need to send this message “to our trade partners (in America and Asia) that we are not willing to put our own health, our families' health, and future generations' health at stake ”. She regretted that our farmers are being put under considerable pressure and added that the EU is based on values that implied quality rather than quantity and that they should take into account animal welfare, the possible impact on human health and the nutritional value of cloned animals and foodstuffs from their descendants. She said that it was our responsibility to protect the health of our citizens and assume our responsibilities.
Animal welfare, ethical concerns, concerns about public health and the environment relating to the loss of biodiversity and the loss of respect from citizens, of whom 80% do not want food from cloned animals on their plates proved to be the watchword of the MEPs in this debate. Only the MEPs on the right expressed doubts about a permanent ban and the feasibility of traceability. Bart Staes (Greens/EFA, Belgium), the spokesman for the Greens food safety committee said that the vote at the parliament was “a victory in the right direction”.
The Commission for Health, Vytenis Andriukaitis, argued that the initial Commission proposals “protected animal health and welfare and allow innovation where desirable, as well as taking into account citizens' concerns”. At the beginning of the debate, he argued that “our proposal is balanced and respects the legal framework in which we have to operate. Your amendments are legally impossible and disproportionate. The offspring of clones are conceived by conventional methods and do not pose any food safety or animal welfare concerns at all”. In response to certain criticism voiced by MEPs, the Commissioner denied that the TTIP negotiations had influenced the Commission proposal to open the door to cloned animal-derived products, “the TTIP has not had any impact on the proposal we have been drawing up. This has been done on the basis of a serious impact study that respects proportionality”. He said that traceability throughout the food chain “also meant bureaucracy and an additional burden that would lead to price rises”. He said that although the negotiations that would soon be beginning with the Council would be tough, he was confident that “a common position will be possible”. (Aminata Niang)