WASHINGTON — Findings of a US government study that would
help pave the way for the sale of milk and meat from cloned animals was "flawed"
and failed to adequately check for possible side-effects, a consumer group said
on Wednesday.
The Center for Food Safety’s report said the US Food and Drug
Administration’s risk assessment of food from cloned animals used data that was
"selectively reported to fit predetermined conclusions" and relied heavily on
unpublished data from two cloning companies.
The consumer group urged FDA to ban food or feed from cloned
animals until the government conducts more safety testing on possible
side-effects and addresses concerns over animal cruelty and ethical issues tied
to the technology.
"I think the process was heavily influenced by industry ...
and it was unnecessarily rushed," said Charles Margulis, who wrote the report.
FDA "needs to go back to the drawing board and bring a lot more stakeholders in
the process."
The December draft ruling by FDA would allow the sale, for
the first time, of food made from cloned cattle, pigs and goats. Cloning animals
involves taking the nuclei of cells from adults and fusing them into egg cells
that are implanted into a surrogate mother.
At present, these products cannot be sold, and the ban
remains in place until a final ruling is issued. FDA’s proposed draft is
currently open to public comment.
An FDA spokeswoman said the agency has received the Center
for Food Safety’s document and is reviewing it, but that she can not comment any
further.
Advocates of livestock cloning say it will improve the
quality of steaks and dairy products by propagating disease-resistant animals
who can produce lean and tender meat or make more milk.
Barb Glenn, a spokeswoman for the Biotechnology Industry
Organization, said additional studies released on cloning since December support
the conclusion that milk and meat products from these animals are safe. She
added that FDA’s risk assessment was subjected to peer review by outside experts
and an editorial board of a scientific journal.
FDA’s report "is a very exhaustive and intensive analysis of
all the world’s available data, hundreds of scientific studies independently
analyzed by the agency and all available transparently to the public," said
Glenn.
The Center for Food Safety said in its report that FDA was
unable to find the necessary studies needed to look at the safety of meat and
milk produced from clones. It said FDA omitted or downplayed findings that
contradicted its assumption from other studies it reviewed, including whether
defective clones can be identified and removed from the food supply.
"FDA’s review finds so little data, and so many
inconsistencies in the studies cited, that any safety conclusions are based more
on faith than science," the report from the Center for Food Safety said.
Dean Foods Co., the largest U.S. dairy processor and distributor, said last
month it will not sell milk from animals that have been cloned even if it were
allowed, because of ongoing consumer concerns .
