When we hear about cloned animals, most of us think of science fiction, or perhaps our thoughts turn to Dolly, the sheep that just 10 years ago was the first mammal to be cloned. But now, despite widespread scientific concern about the safety and animal welfare issues that accompany cloning, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced plans to approve milk and meat from animal clones this year.

Even worse, the agency says that labels will not be required on food from clones, so you will have no way to avoid these untested, experimental foods, even if you want to.

Animal cloning companies are hoping that unlabeled food from their laboratory-made animals will sneak its way into supermarkets without consumer complaints. The food irradiation industry hoped the same thing a couple years ago, and we and others fought successfully against that happening by making it clear we wanted labeling of such foods. That’s why Generation Green and the Center for Environmental Health (CEH) are spearheading a drive to flood the FDA with official public comments in opposition to cloned food.

But we must act now—FDA’s comment period ends April 2.

Animal cloning sidesteps natural reproduction by using genetic material from a donor animal to produce a genetically identical copy of that animal. Cloners hope to produce carbon copies of highly productive dairy cows, cattle, or hogs with desirable properties for meat production.

But when it comes to the safety of our food, cloning carries vast unknowns. Clones can suffer from hidden health defects that could poison their milk or meat. Dr. Ian Wilmut, leader of the team that cloned Dolly, has said that even small, invisible changes in a clone’s physiology could lead to unsafe milk or meat. Scientists have also warned that health problems in clones could lead to an increase in the incidence of food-borne illnesses, such as E. coli infections.

Cloning also carries known health risks. Because animal clones are usually unhealthy at birth, they are treated with high doses of antibiotics and other medications. This suggests that cloning will increase residues of veterinary drugs in milk and meat. Among other problems, this could lead to problems with drug-resistant microorganisms in the human population. FDA has completely failed to address such concerns.

And of course, there are also the ethical issues. Animal cloning also has an appalling track record for animal welfare. Dolly (the cloned sheep touted as a success for the animal cloning movement) suffered from premature arthritis and lung disease and lived to just half the normal age for her breed. Typically, more than 90% of cloning attempts fail. And of the “successful” clones—those born alive—many die after just a few weeks or months. Cloning creates animals that are subjected to horrific suffering and birth defects, including enlarged tongues, squashed faces, intestinal blockages, immune deficiencies and brain abnormalities.

FDA says that defective clones will be removed from the food supply and that clones are generally healthy once they survive past six months. But one of the world’s leading cloning scientists, Dr. Rudolph Jaenisch of MIT, has stated that clones are always defective to some degree. “You cannot make normal clones,” he said. “The ones that survive will just be less abnormal than the ones that die early.” Dr. Jaenisch also says that clones can suffer from unexpected defects at any age; his studies on mice suggest that defects in cloned cows could fester unnoticed for years before manifesting and causing death or disease.

Polls show that most Americans have moral or ethical reservations about animal cloning, and many fear that widespread animal cloning will encourage human cloning experiments. Indeed, leading animal cloning scientists have said that once cloning is used to breed livestock it is likely that human cloning will follow. The public clearly has strong concerns about the safety and ethics of animal cloning. This requires FDA to take consumers into account rather than bending to the will of the biotech industry.

Generation Green and CEH are calling for a ban on the sale of food from cloned animals. We believe that FDA must not allow these foods to be sold, without labels, while there are so many unanswered questions about the safety of milk and meat from clones. We also object to the unnecessary animal cruelty that cloning will bring.

We are calling on FDA to take three steps. First, the agency must develop a comprehensive process for pre-market safety testing of cloned food. Second, cloning must not be permitted for food production until and unless the technology meets the highest standards for animal welfare. Finally, FDA must engage a broad spectrum of stakeholders to develop public discussions around the troubling ethical issues raised by animal cloning.

Finally, if these processes ultimately answer the public’s growing concerns around cloning, FDA must require mandatory labeling for food products from animal clones, to protect consumers’ right to avoid eating such foods.

lease take a moment to send your comment to FDA today. A sample letter to FDA is below. Feel free to alter or expand upon the letter if you’d like. For more information on this issue, click here.

SAMPLE LETTER:

Send To:

FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach
Division of Dockets Management (HFA-305)
Food and Drug Administration
5630 Fishers Lane, Rm 1061
Rockville, MD 20852

Docket # 2003N-0573

I oppose FDA approval of food products from animal clones and their offspring. Cloning carries unknown food safety risks, increases animal cruelty, and is troubling on moral or ethical grounds to most Americans.

FDA has failed to address the critical scientific questions about the safety of cloned food. Since there is no need to rush approval of these experimental foods, I call on FDA to ban food from clones or their offspring and to develop a mandatory pre-market safety review process. Further, cloning must meet strict animal welfare standards before it is permitted for food production. Finally, broad public discussions must take place if the moral and ethical issues around cloning are to be resolved.

If these conditions are met and cloned food is presented for marketing, FDA must require labeling of cloned food, to protect consumers who have the right to avoid eating these foods.

Sincerely,

[Your Name, City, State]