Maltese may be carnivores but when it comes to cloned meat 61 per cent would wrinkle their nose if served a genetic copy of their favourite dish or its derivatives, according to an EU-wide survey.

The Maltese cited the lack of experience or data on the long-term effects this type of diet could have on human health as one of the reasons why they would feel uneasy eating cloned meat.

The majority, 81 per cent of Maltese respondents, said there was no evidence that this type of meat was good for consumption. In general, the survey showed that European citizens have a generally negative perception of animal cloning for food production.

The survey, part of the Eurobarometer series, was aimed at establishing EU citizens' perceptions of animal cloning.

The majority of Maltese interviewed - 69 per cent - were knowledgeable about the subject. However, 23 per cent of the 502 Maltese surveyed said they had never heard of the term, the highest rate of unawareness in Europe - EU-wide, only 11 per cent said they had never heard of animal cloning.

Asked whether animal cloning was morally wrong, as it made animals suffer unnecessarily and it treated them like commodities without feelings, 65 per cent of Maltese agreed. On the other hand, 27 per cent disagreed that cloning was wrong.

The study indicated that the vast majority of citizens have a good degree of knowledge on what animal cloning is (eight out of 10 stated correctly that cloning is making an identical copy of an existing animal).

Presenting the results in Brussels yesterday, EU Health Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou said the survey provided the Commission with valuable insights into the attitudes of EU citizens toward the use of animal cloning technology for food production. Last July, the Commission received the scientific opinion of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) on cloning and earlier this year, the European Group of Ethics (EGE) delivered its opinion on the same subject.

EFSA's report gave rise to increased concerns on aspects of animal health and welfare and the EGE raised ethical concerns.

What are animal clones?

An animal clone is an exact genetic copy of a donor animal. Clones are similar to identical twins, just born at a different time.

Cloning can be thought of as an extension of the assisted reproductive technologies that livestock breeders have been using for centuries. These include artificial insemination, and more recently, embryo transfer, embryo splitting and in vitro fertilization.

Cloning is the newest and most complex form of assisted reproductive technology and has been around for more than 20 years in various forms.

The form used most frequently is known as Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer, or SCNT. With SCNT, the genes of the donor animal are inserted into an egg cell that has had its nucleus removed, and after a few steps in the lab is implanted into a surrogate dam where it develops just like any other embryo.

Dam is a term that livestock breeders use to refer to the female parent of an animal.

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