Brussels, 17/01/2008 (Agence Europe) - Asked for its opinion on the ethical aspects of cloning animals for food supply, the European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies (EGE), which advises the European Commission, on 16 January came out somewhat against.
Given the current level of suffering and health problems of cloned animals, the EGE has doubts as to whether the cloning of animals to provide food can be justified ethically. The EGE “does not see convincing arguments to justify the production of food from clones and their offspring,” the opinion says.
In the event of foodstuffs from cloned animals being introduced onto the European market, the EGE recommends that the safety of such products for human consumption should be guaranteed as a pre-condition for their marketing, and that scientific updates and follow-up research into progeny should be carried out. The EGE also says that EU legislation on traceability of animals and their food products should be enforced, and the import of cloned animals, their offspring and materials derived from cloned animals should carry proper documentation, in particular with regard to traceability and animal welfare.
It was in February 2007, just after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announcement that it was considering authorising the marketing of food products derived from cloned cattle, sheep and goats that the EGE was asked by the Commission for its opinion. This opinion was published on the same day as that the previously mentioned hypothesis became reality on the other side of the Atlantic. With the FDA giving a favourable opinion on 16 January, the way is open for food stuffs from cloned animals to be marketed within five years.
On 17 January, the European Commission said that it would give very careful consideration to the EGE opinion, as it would the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) opinion due to be finalised in May 2008, before launching a wide public consultation exercise of European citizens. The provisional conclusion of the preliminary EFSA opinion, published on 11 January, was that foodstuffs derived from healthy cloned animals did not present any risks for human health or the environment (see EUROPE 9579). The proposal for a review of the regulation “Novel Food”, brought forward by the Commission on 13 January to make it easier to authorise the marketing of new foods in the EU, provides for submitting foodstuffs from cloned animals to an risk assessment procedure prior to being put on the market (see EUROPE 9579). (A.N.)