Читать книгу The SAGE Encyclopedia of Stem Cell Research - Группа авторов - Страница 99

As it became clear that animal cloning would eventually become a potentially widespread element of commercial industry meant to help improve livestock quality, the federal government through the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requested that researchers and livestock producers keep food produced from animal clones and their offspring out of the food supply. The FDA has conducted a detailed assessment that includes examining not only the safety of food from these animals, but also risks to their health.

After years of intense study and analysis, the Food and Drug Administration concluded, in 2008, that meat and milk produced from clones of cattle, swine, and goats are as safe to eat as if it came from conventionally bred animals, and the offspring of these, traditionally consumed as food, is included in this assessment. The agency did not have enough information available to reach a conclusion on the safety of clones of other animal species, such as sheep.

The FDA found that the naturally reproduced offspring of clones are not the same product as clones and thus, do not seem to show the same adverse outcomes that are observed in their progenitors or parents, such as obesity and other health problems. The FDA agrees with other government entities, such as the European Food Safety Authority, that no evidence exists of differences in safety between food products derived from conventionally bred animals and cloned animals and their offspring. They observed, however, that the food consumption risk assessment was conducted primarily on clones rather than on their offspring, because some milk from dairy clones may be introduced into the food supply, and once their breeding usefulness is over, clones are very likely to enter the food supply as meat. To this day, however, the main use of animal clones is as breeding stock, rather than food. Their conventionally reproduced offspring become the food-producing animals.

As pertains to related technology and ethical issues, the FDA declared that it does not regulate animal breeding nor assisted reproduction technologies, and thus, has no official position on those issues. The agency basically considers cloning as another breeding technology, which can be used to introduce traits that benefit animal health, such as resistance to certain diseases, or human preferences, such as softer meat. These conclusions agree with those of the National Academy of Sciences, published in 2002. Since its own publication in 2008, the FDA has updated its findings. Also, it is not the responsibility of the FDA to address non-science-based concerns such as the religious, moral, and ethical topics related with animal cloning for agricultural purposes, the economic impact of its products in the market, or other social issues unrelated to its public health impact.