FDA says cloned meat and products safe

Well. I was mostly right and somewhat wrong on my earlier call on the FDA's initial report. As expected, their early findings say that eating meat or products from cloned animals is "safe" and won't require labeling (Gerstenzang, LA Times, 10/31/03, FDA Official: No Need for Labels on Cloned Products). I was wrong in that it made bigger news than I expected.

There is an interesting take on this by Thomas Hoban (a sociologist and food scientist at NC State University). He believes that cloned products will not be acceptable to consumers because of people's sens of kinship with animals and concern about that the next clone approval will be human (Expert Can Discuss Impact of FDA Policy on Cloned Animals, Food, Newswise, 10/31/03).

What most of the TV reports are leaving out however, is that the products will not be labeled. Therefore, we finicky consumers won't know that the meat, milk, pork roast, etc is from a cloned source.

The final decision will not be until next year (unless the FDA fast tracks it). There is still time to mobilize to fight their decision. Keep your eyes open for petitions to that effect. If you see any forward them my way and I'll help get the word out.