Brussels proposes temporary ban on animal cloning for food

The European Commission is proposing a five-year moratorium on animal cloning for food production in the EU and on the marketing of food products that derive from cloned animals.

The proposals were announced in Brussels by Health and Consumer Affairs Commissioner John Dalli and immediately pounced upon by animal welfare groups that criticised the fact that imports of food derived from the offspring of clones would still be allowed.

Mr Dalli said the temporary measures would be reviewed five years down the line. The moratorium would also cover imports of live clones from outside the 27-nation bloc. The establishment of a traceability system for imports of reproductive materials for clones, such as semen and embryos of clones, is also envisaged.

The Commission’s decision was taken on purely animal welfare grounds as food from cloned animals was proven to be safe, Mr Dalli said. “In fact, the scientific opinion is that it cannot be differentiated in any way from food from normally bred animals.”

The food derived from the offspring of clones, he said, presented no such animal welfare issues and banning its sale and importation would be impossible because its origin was untraceable.

“Such a prohibition would lead to a ban on imports of any food of animal origin (meat, milk and processed products) from third countries allowing the cloning technique,” a Commission report on the issue said.

According to the report, animal cloning, which uses DNA transfer to develop an exact genetic copy of an animal, has a success rate of below 20 per cent as most cloned animals die during or shortly after birth. The technique is complex and costly, ensuring that cloned animals are unlikely to be used directly as food but they can be bred traditionally to produce offspring that share similar traits, such as high milk production or rapid growth.

The United States was the most advanced country in terms of animal cloning for food production, with estimates provided by companies suggesting that thousands of cattle and hundreds of pigs having been cloned there so far, the Commission said.

Animal welfare groups claimed the Commission had bowed to pressure from third countries. “We do not accept the Commission’s position that it would be impossible to enforce a ban that includes the offspring of cloned animal, as (other) meat traceability systems are already in place,” said Sonja Van Tichelen, director of the Eurogroup for Animals. MEPs also seem to be on collision course with Mr Dalli as they are insisting all food from cloned animals and their offspring should be banned.

Though welcoming the moratorium proposed by the Commission, Gianni Pittella, vice-president of the European Parliament, said critical differences with the Commission still existed.

“Parliament’s position is to prevent the sale of food not only from clones themselves but also from their offspring and further descendents. Parliament is also determined to ensure proper safety checks and labelling for foods produced with the aid of nanotechnology,” he said.