Cow Clones

Well, unfortunately, even with all of my dietary restrictions because of medical reasons, it appears that I'm going to have to add another restriction to the list... meat and dairy.

Organically raised *original* meat is going to have to be the only meat option for this omnivore. The FDA has announced plans to approve offspring from genetically cloned animals. This is a *very* bad idea. http://www.organicconsumers.org/Toxic/clone.cfm

As of right now, there is not enough scientific evidence to show if eating the meat or dairy from second generation clones is safe. Cloning, contrary to what the name implies, actually changes the structure of the molecules in the cells of animals. Many times, cells from other animals (humans, worms, mice) are used in the cloning process. While we all share many of the same genetic code, no one is really sure how much of the structure that this process changes and if those changes will be safe for human consumption. Also, there are many ethical questions regarding cloning. I don't know about you, but I sure don't want to eat anything cloned with human DNA... just the idea of it makes my stomach turn. Fortunately, the process is so expensive right now that many farmers will not resort to this option.

Unfortunately, consumers probably won't know what they are eating once this hits the market. We have many genetically engineered foods on the market right now and few, if any, of them are labelled as such. I doubt that meat and dairy products would be labelled as second generation clones.

One of my fears about food cloning is more than just a personal aversion to the topic. I wonder if by changing the structure of molecules and cells, we will also inadvertently end up creating an ideal environment for new virus and bacteria to thrive. One small change in a protein could be all it takes for a mutated virus to find a binding site to a cell and enable it to reproduce.

There just hasn't been enough research into this area of "reproductive technology." Who knows if the offspring of these animals will be safe to eat.... the Food and Drug Administration sure doesn't.