With big advances in animal cloning techniques, and the strong possibility of a ruling in the US that cloned meat can enter the food chain for the first time, would you be comfortable with eating cloned meat?
My main problem with cloning in general is that the clones nearly always seem to have shorter lives and often develop major problems. People will say that if an animal is bred or cloned for eating is doesn't make a difference how long they would live because they are going to be slaughtered anyway, but I'm still not sure I would feel comfortable eating cloned meat.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6941059.stm
I am quite uneasy about the whole process myself. I don't like the idea of genetically altered organisms, as it's still not clear how putting the DNA of a shrimp in a cow is going to benefit me, especially as I am allergic to shellfish!
But how will I know if labelling is not required? Also, the meat industry in the US is fiercely resisting the mandatory labelling of origin of meat, and what with the recent horror stories of counterfeit products from China, India, and Mexico, I think it would just be too much brewing in the pot.
By the way, it's odd that the first cloned cat was a tortoiseshell--even though it may be an exact genetic duplicate, it would never look exactly like the female cat from which it was cloned. A wonderful, and fascinating explanation of the genetics of tortoiseshell colouring:
http://www.messybeast.com/tricolours.htm
Kingfisher
Thanks for the link Kingfisher, it is fascinating. I've bookmarked it to finish reading later. At the very least cloned meat should be labelled, so people can make their own, individual choices in the same way that organic food is.
I feel extremely uneasy about interfering with nature to this extent; I still have great concerns over GM crops.
I know that we have always crossbred animals and plants to create new breeds and strains, but I feel that this is a step beyond the line that I would like to see drawn. To me there is always the question of: once we allow this to happen, where do we go next, as I'm absolutely certain that the scientists aren't going to rest there; they will continually push the boundaries. And the big food corporations, eyeing ever larger control of the markets and the making of ever bigger profits, will encourage them to do so. Next we'll have animals that can't reproduce (just like GM crops that can't produce seed), meaning that livestock owners will have to buy all their animals from the producing companies.
My biggest concern is that all this modified food is/will be produced by massive global companies that are primarily out to make profit. Therefore, if something did go wrong, they would do everything in their power to cover it up until it was too late. You just have to look at the BSE scandal and the lengths producers and government went to to hide the effects of that. Imagine something similar on a global scale.
And the fact that the cloned animals don't live as long certainly worries me. What in their genetic make-up is causing this? And what is the potential impact (possibly years down the line - as with CJD) of ingesting the proteins from this meat?
At a time when we are trying to champion organic food, this appears to be at the other extreme.
OK... I'm off my soapbox now.
I don't think it's a soapbox at all, TimberWolf. There are so many unanswered questions about GMOs. As you said, what is the impact of eating proteins from this meat many years from now?
When I go to donate blood, a number of the questions asked are connected with BSE--have you spent more than six months in the UK since...have you had a blood transfusion in the UK...have you spent more than five years in Europe...?
We still have animals coming in from Canada crossing the border which have been discovered with BSE. The USDA has had the funding cut to inspect cattle for BSE. The pressure is enormous to maximise profits for companies.
We are always told that it's not harmful. But the breeding done in the past was with genes which were in the animal, but not expressed. The current breeding is done with genes not found in the animal in nature.
Kingfisher
If the meat was the same in every way as normal meat, then I wouldn't have a moral problem with eating it. I'm nowhere near convinced that it IS the same though.
I think cloning is possibly a brilliant scientific tool that could potentially save many lives, but I still wouldn't feel right eating cloned meat. Then again, if it was perfectly safe I think we would all get used to it pretty quickly, but how would we ever know 100% that there was nothing wrong with it in the long term. As Timberwolf said, cloned animals have a shorter lifespan so they can't be exactly the same as the animal they are cloned from.
It's wrong - like cooking food with radiation.
But it would be good if they could make meat without having to 'grow' animals with feelings.
But I personally will not being eating it.
I would not be touching it with a barge pole! as we tend to say here. We don't eat anything knowingly with GM products in it let alone anything 'cloned'. My views are very straight forward on this, don't get me wrong I am not an organic only person but these types of things are one step too far.
Also if you want to talk about BSE, why on earth would anyone want to feed other meat products to a vegetarian cow???? Beyond belief & look where it got them!!!!! How many of the members know someone who has died of CJD. If you think it's quite rare well let me tell you it's there lurking around every corner. my next door but one neighbour died from it.He was only in his late 40's with a wife & young daughter. They hadn't been here long having taken 3 years to sell their previous house, they bought a nice bungalow, loved the location, promised & bought their only daughter who was 8yrs old a little dog & thought Yes!!! we can live here the rest of our lives. Sadly they only been living here a year when he was being treated by the doctor for depression, months later they were waiting for him to die then they could confirm it was CJD. The poor woman had to watch her husband slowly deteriorate until death came as a release & so the medical profession could examine his brain to confirm that yes , it was CJD.It destroyed that woman, her family & cruelly robbed that little girl of the promise of a new life & the father she loved. When she told me my only reply was ,'I am so sorry what can I say?' because I nor anyone else had got the answer to why this nightmare had happened.
Now what would the people for mixing meat products from sheep suffering from 'scrapy' into a food chain to be fed to vegetarian cattle say in their defence????
What excuse could they have?? for causing the deaths of lots more cattle & people which presumably they did for some cost cutting exercise.
It devastates peoples lives & affects many more not affected by it.
What are going to be the repercussions of GM products & cloned animals in future years say 10,20,30 from now???? It could be a re-run of the BSE scandal.
Sorry for telling a sad story but I feel it has to be told. It is very serious subject no matter how much money big companies could make or which scientist could make their name.Pity they don't see it like that.
It is a very serious subject no matter how much money big companies could make or which scientist could make their name.Pity they don't see it like that.
Now, if the companies and scientists wanted to wait 30 or 40 years with what they've got right now, to see if everything turns out the way it should...that would be one thing.
But there's no making certain that things aren't going to go horribly wrong. It's like the mess in the US about the melamine being added to cat/dog food so as to increase the apparent protein percentage.
What will turn up in our newspapers tomorrow?
Kingfisher
What is that sort of melamine? I only know of it as used in crockery like plastic plates
I did not know it was edible.
The worst possible scenario would be if cloned meat was released onto the market through the "back door" so to speak, without anyone knowing. I can't see it happening, but the most important thing is that people are allowed to make their own choice and choose whether to eat cloned meat or not.
I would anticipate that the vast majority of people would not want to purchase cloned meat, at least to start with.