In UK, did dairy farmer sell milk from a cloned-cow offspring?
Filed under: England
Topics covered : Flora & Fauna, Food, Panic!
Thanks to that nasty bit of mad-cow business a few years ago, Brits are much more mindful about their beef sources than we are in America. (By and large, of course — strident locavores need not post nasty comments below.) Therefore, reports published by the IHT that a dairy farmer sold milk harvested from the offspring of a cloned cow are being met with horror, revulsion and fear. From Sky News:
The International Herald Tribune newspaper reported the farmer – who wished to remain anonymous – admitted he used milk from a cow bred from a clone as part of his daily production.
This would mean the milk was sold with no markings to warn consumers what they were buying.
Under European law, products such as milk that are produced from cloned animals must pass a safety test and get approval before they can be marketed.
But the Food Standards Authority (FSA), which is responsible for the assessments, has not been asked to make any authorisations and has decided to investigate the matter.
A spokeswoman said: “Since 2007 the FSA interpretation of the law has been that meat and products from clones and their offspring are considered novel foods and would therefore need to be authorised before being placed on the market.
“As the UK authority responsible for accepting novel food applications, the agency has not received any applications relating to cloning and no authorisations have been made.
“The agency will, of course, investigate any reports of unauthorised novel foods entering the food chain.”
Dr Brendan Curran, a geneticist from Queen Mary University, reassured the public, telling Sky News that as long as an animal with deformities was not cloned and used to produce milk, he did not see a problem.
It’s unclear that meat or milk from a cloned animal, or its descendants, carry any health risks. But, hell yeah, I don’t blame people for freaking out. At a time when more meat-eaters avoid meat from animals treated with antibiotics and hormones, I sure wouldn’t fancy a Dolly meat sandwich. I’m no Luddite, but not every scientific advance should be automatically welcomed as a boon for mankind. Better living through chemistry hasn’t exactly panned out.
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