DATE=10/31/03

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=CLONED ANIMALS / FOOD (L)

NUMBER=2-309299

BYLINE=DAVID McALARY

DATELINE=WASHINGTON

CONTENT=

INTERNET=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: The U-S government says food from healthy cloned animals and their offspring does not appear to pose a health risk. But as V-O-A's David McAlary reports, they are not ready to approve food production from such animals.

TEXT: In a draft report, U-S food regulators say cloned animals that develop normally appear as healthy as their conventional counterparts. The U-S Food and Drug Administration, or F-D-A, states that meat or milk from clones and their normally-bred offspring are not riskier to consume than food from uncloned animals.

Deputy F-D-A chief Lester Crawford says the report is based on a study last year by the U-S National Academy of Sciences and nearly 100 cattle studies it has received since.

/// CRAWFORD ACT ///

You evaluate if the animal is changed in any way that would affect food safety or if the physiology of the animal gives any indication that this is a different kind of animal than the parent of the offspring -- the parent in this case being the animal that is cloned. There's no data to suggest there are any changes that would be deleterious, and therefore the assumption is that the food is safe.

/// END ACT ///

But Mr. Crawford says the agency is withholding permission to produce food from clones pending a detailed risk assessment by agency scientists and public hearings.

Consumer groups are expressing opposition to the F-D-A's preliminary position. At the Consumer Federation of America in Washington, food policy expert Carol Tucker Foreman says the F-D-A's view on safety is not convincing.

/// FOREMAN ACT ///

The food industry doesn't want these products. Sixty percent of Americans, every time there is a poll, say they are opposed to animal cloning. I'm not sure why the public interest has been shoved into the back seat in order to move ahead precipitously, in my view, to help the cloned animal industry move ahead.

/// END ACT ///

Cloning involves removing the nucleus of an egg cell of an animal and replacing it with the nucleus of any cell from an adult. The reconstructed egg is implanted into the womb and develops into an exact genetic duplicate of the adult. The technique is hailed as a way to reproduce animals with desirable traits.

However, cloned animals frequently have physical abnormalities and often do not live to adulthood. Ms. Foreman says this is inhumane and adds that the F-D-A does not appear to be addressing this issue.

/// 2nd FOREMAN ACT ///

Making cloned animals is very different from making biotech corn. Dealing with sentient beings raises morale and ethical issues.

/// END ACT ///

While the F-D-A review is pending, the agency is asking U-S livestock producers and biotechnology companies to continue their voluntary moratorium on food production from clones. Their trade group, The Biotechnology Industry Organization, says it hopes for a quick decision by the government that will allow their clients to market their products.

The F-D-A's Lester Crawford agrees that movement is necessary.

/// 2nd CRAWFORD ACT ///

We do need to get on with a decision because this is an industry that has been developing. So we are having to be a little "iffy" [uncertain] about when we'll make the decision, but we'll do it as expeditiously as we can.

/// END ACT ///

Mr. Crawford says if the F-D-A review ultimately cannot assure the safety of food from cloned animals, it will not certify its production. (SIGNED)

NEB/DEM/KL/RH