UK Stores to Sell Cloned Milk

by healthypages on 06/07/2011 - 04:04 pm |

Tag: News

Cow in Field

Statements made by the UK government indicate that cloned milk and meat may be sold in the UK. The statement that Jim Paice, the Minister of State for Agriculture and Food said in one of his recent speeches that "there should be no restrictions on the use of offspring of cloned animals (for food)," is the cause for alarm.The law in the UK over cloned food is not very clear as it states that cloned food is “novel food” and as such requires approval upon application, but at the same time they also say that cloned food is no different from food from natural sources. The European Commission already gives its support to the sale of products derived from animals that were cloned.Opposition groups to cloned animal products were quite vocal in their response to Paice's words, saying that both the cloned animals themselves, their offspring as well as products derived from them have not been proved safe for human consumption. They described Paice's comments as “utter incompetency at best, and sinister malfeasance at worst.”Already cloned animal products have entered the food supply in the UK which was known by an announcement by the U.K. Food Standards Agency.The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced in 2009 that cloned animal products were in the food supply. In the US no labeling stating that the product is derived from cloned animals is required by companies to place on their products, so despite a large number of big US food companies promising not to use cloned animal supplies, they have little incentive to stick to their promises.