UK SAYS CLONED ANIMALS -YUP! EAT 'EM UP! : (LABELING WILL ONLY CONFUSE YOU!)

Attack of the Clones: U.K. Approves Food from Clones' Offspring
by Taylor Leake December 10, 2010 07:08 AM (PT)

It's like something out of a bad sci-fi movie: cloned animals giving birth to genetically superior progeny, who populate farms by the thousands, producing vast amounts of milk and meat. Unfortunately, this very scene has already started in the United Kingdom, and the government just gave it the legal go-ahead.

There are more than 100 animals in the U.K. that are the offspring of cloned animals. Most are Holstein cows on dairy farms. And just this week, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) said meat and milk from these animals was perfectly fine to sell at grocery stores without special safety checks or — and here's the kicker — any special labeling. Apparently the FSA believes such labels are "unnecessary and disproportionate" and would provide "no significant food safety benefit to consumers." Really?

It was a controversial decision. To start with, there are still serious questions about such a new procedure. These cloned animals have more miscarriages, a higher rate of organ failure, and the offspring of cloned animals have a significantly higher rate of gigantism. Many cloned animals die early in their lives of heart failure, breathing difficulties, or a defective immune system. These disorders are obviously bad for the animals themselves, but it's also unclear if these sickly cows pose potential health risks to consumers. The research is paltry at best, so who knows what health issues may be discovered in the future?

In addition to the health and animal welfare concerns, cloning perpetuates factory farming. Cloned animals and their offspring will typically be raised in Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) conditions, which come with their own set of environmental and health problems.

The lack of a label requirement is particularly galling. Not labeling milk and meat from cloned animals denies consumers"the choice to decide whether they want to eat this food. We have a Government that talks about honest labeling, yet it is saying to consumers that they won’t be able to exercise a choice," says Peter Stevenson of Compassion in World Farming.

If the U.K. is going to allow food producers to sell products of the offspring of cloned animals, they should at the very least label them. People have the right to know how their food is produced. Even if these products turn out to be safe — and it seems far too early to tell that for sure — the animal welfare issues alone are worth a label. If you agree, please sign this petition to the FSA, urging the agency to reconsider its decision not to label products from cloned animals' offspring.

SOURCE: http://food.change.org/blog/view/attack_of_the_clones_uk_approves_food_from_clones_offspring