Manufacturers Address Safety Concerns
By Alarice Padilla
September 10, 2008 - Twenty of America's leading food producers and retailers, including Kraft Foods, General Mills and Nestle, state that they will not use cloned animals in food products even though the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) found that health risks do not appear to be increased in clones. The decision by these companies -- encouraged by the Center for Food Safety and Friends of the Earth -- represents a growing industry trend to respond to consumer demand for better food safety, environmental and animal welfare standards.
Ongoing FDA Analysis
In January 2008, the FDA released a Risk Assessment on its site concluding that after several years of analysis, its Center for Veterinary Medicine scientists and veterinarians found that health risks do not appear to be increased in clones that survive beyond a few weeks of birth, and that a healthy adult clone could not be distinguished from a healthy conventionally bred animal. The assessment concludes, "blood values, enzymes, overall health and behavioral observations for those clones are all in same ranges seen in conventionally bred animals of the same breed and raised on the same farms. In addition, meat and milk from clones do not appear to differ significantly in composition from meat and milk from conventionally bred animals."
The FDA will also continue to research the use of clones in the following ways:
- Monitor and review additional animal health and food composition data on animal clones or their progeny as they become available.
- Monitor and review changes in animal cloning techniques and technologies. The FDA will routinely monitor the scientific literature and attend pertinent scientific conferences to stay abreast of animal cloning technologies.
- Continue to consult with clone producers to review changes in the technology.
- Monitor and maintain knowledge base on the biology of epigenetic mechanisms governing gene expression and their role in nuclear transfer.
Curbing Clone Use
While the FDA continues to research the use of cloned animals, companies are already taking action to sooth consumer anxieties of safety issues. In May 2008, the Center for Food Safety began reaching out to companies involved in the production, use and sale of meat and milk products, regarding their position on the use of food from clones. The Center for Food Safety is a national, non-profit, membership organization founded in 1997 to protect human health and the environment by curbing the use of harmful food production technologies and by promoting organic and other forms of sustainable agriculture. In response to its reach out, three of the top-earning food manufacturing companies indicated that they will not be using ingredients from clones or their offspring.
September 10, 2008 - Twenty of America's leading food producers and retailers, including Kraft Foods, General Mills and Nestle, state that they will not use cloned animals in food products even though the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) found that health risks do not appear to be increased in clones. The decision by these companies -- encouraged by the Center for Food Safety and Friends of the Earth -- represents a growing industry trend to respond to consumer demand for better food safety, environmental and animal welfare standards.
Ongoing FDA Analysis
In January 2008, the FDA released a Risk Assessment on its site concluding that after several years of analysis, its Center for Veterinary Medicine scientists and veterinarians found that health risks do not appear to be increased in clones that survive beyond a few weeks of birth, and that a healthy adult clone could not be distinguished from a healthy conventionally bred animal. The assessment concludes, "blood values, enzymes, overall health and behavioral observations for those clones are all in same ranges seen in conventionally bred animals of the same breed and raised on the same farms. In addition, meat and milk from clones do not appear to differ significantly in composition from meat and milk from conventionally bred animals."
The FDA will also continue to research the use of clones in the following ways:
- Monitor and review additional animal health and food composition data on animal clones or their progeny as they become available.
- Monitor and review changes in animal cloning techniques and technologies. The FDA will routinely monitor the scientific literature and attend pertinent scientific conferences to stay abreast of animal cloning technologies.
- Continue to consult with clone producers to review changes in the technology.
- Monitor and maintain knowledge base on the biology of epigenetic mechanisms governing gene expression and their role in nuclear transfer.
Curbing Clone Use
While the FDA continues to research the use of cloned animals, companies are already taking action to sooth consumer anxieties of safety issues. In May 2008, the Center for Food Safety began reaching out to companies involved in the production, use and sale of meat and milk products, regarding their position on the use of food from clones. The Center for Food Safety is a national, non-profit, membership organization founded in 1997 to protect human health and the environment by curbing the use of harmful food production technologies and by promoting organic and other forms of sustainable agriculture. In response to its reach out, three of the top-earning food manufacturing companies indicated that they will not be using ingredients from clones or their offspring.
Kraft Foods expressed its position in a letter to the Center for Food Safety, stating that although it defers to the conclusions of the FDA on the safety of ingredients from cloned animals, "product safety is not the only factor we consider in our products. We must also carefully consider additional factors such as consumer benefits and acceptance...and research in the United States indicates that consumers are currently not receptive to ingredients from cloned animals."
In its Corporate Social Responsibility Report in 2007, General Mills shares its view: "General Mills continues to believe that the future of biotechnology hinges on a broad base of common scientific knowledge, global regulatory approvals and appropriate oversight. But, ultimately, we believe the future of this technology hinges on consumer acceptance."
Additionally, in its 2000 Environment Progress Report, Nestle says that when "marketing its products globally, it takes into consideration local needs, cultural differences and consumer wishes as well as attitudes concerning the use of ingredients derived from genetically modified crops." However, Nestle also recognizes that in some regions of the world, governments have expressed a keen interest in this technology as a potential tool to address their country's future food requirements. But while biotechnology has potential to help address hunger in other countries, for now, the opinion of concerned consumers seems to outweigh the potential benefits.
In the retail market, Friends of the Earth, the U.S. voice of a large grassroots environmental network, with member groups in 69 countries, has worked with top U.S. grocers to determine their policy on the use of cloned animals and their offspring in their food, and presented them with over 8,000 signatures from consumers who reject products made from these animals. To date, Albertsons, SUPERVALU and Harris Teeter have informed Friends of the Earth that they will not sell products from cloned animals.
The list of companies that have stated intentions to not use cloned food products to either the Center for Food Safety or Friends of the Earth also includes Campbell Soup Company; Gossner Foods; Smithfield Foods; Ben & Jerry's; Amy's Kitchen; California Pizza Kitchen restaurants; Hain Celestial; Cloverland, Oberweis, Prairie, Byrne, Plainview, and Clover-Stornetta Dairies; and grocer PCC Natural Markets.