After six years of research, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced in January that food products from cloned pigs, cows, goats and their offspring are as safe as food produced from traditionally-bred animals. As WTO Members around the world begin to assess and implement strategies regarding food products based on clones, they may be going down different paths – leading to potential trade complications.
According to the FDA, there is “nothing in the food [from clones] that could potentially be hazardous.” The US National Academy of Sciences came to the same conclusion. The conclusion is not unchallenged, however. The US Congress recently passed legislation requesting the FDA to further study the safety of food products from cloned animals, and many consumer and animal rights groups are opposed to cloning.
Clones are very expensive to produce, ranging from US$10,000 to US$20,000 per cloned cow, compared to just US$1,000 for an ordinary cow. For the time being, there are only few cloned animals on the market and consumers are unlikely to encounter products made from clones. Agricultural companies would more likely use the clones for breeding purposes, only introducing their offspring into the food chain. The USDA has requested that companies voluntarily keep milk and food products from cloned animals from distribution, especially to give time to government officials to disseminate their findings to foreign trade partners and food companies. This voluntary moratorium is not applicable to the cloned animals’ offspring.
The FDA is not planning to require the meat or milk products from cloned animals or their offspring to be labelled.
Consumer groups opposed, industry in favour
Consumer groups claim that the data used by the FDA does not sufficiently establish that foods from cloned animals and their offspring are safe and say there is no data to suggest any consumer demand for such products. Animal rights groups strongly oppose cloning, arguing that the process itself is “stressful to the animals involved.
Support for the FDA announcement has come primarily from the biotechnology industry. David Faber, President of Trans Ova, a genetics company specialising in reproductive technologies, stated that their “farmer and rancher clients are pleased [with the decision] because it provide[s] them with another reproductive tool.” The company announced that they would track the food products through a Supply Chain Management Program to aid “food processors wishing to identify food products from [cloned] animals.”
The European Food Safety Authority seeks comments on clones
Meanwhile, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) published a draft scientific report in January, reaching a conclusion similar to that of the FDA: food products from cloned cows and pigs are the same as those from traditionally bred cows and pigs. However, the EFSA cautioned that there was ‘only limited data available’ and opened the draft scientific opinion to public comment.
The European Commission’s Group on Ethics for science and new technologies (EGE) opposed cloning animals. The group stated that “considering the current level of suffering and health problems of surrogates and animal clones, the EGE has doubts as to whether cloning animals for food supply is ethically justified” and that more research was needed on their offspring. The EGE also recommended that more studies be conducted on the long-term health impacts of cloned animals and their offspring and called for public debate on “the impact of…cloning on agriculture and the environment, on the society impact of increasing meat consumption…[and] the fair distribution of food resources.”
The EFSA plans on issuing its final report in May. If the EFSA authorises the sale of food products from cloned animals, “the EU has indicated [they would have to be labelled].”
Like in the US, the announcement was met with great resistance by various groups. According to a survey conducted by the International Food Information Council, less than half of all consumers were likely to buy food products made from cloned animals.
Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Canada are also evaluating the safety, health and environmental issues associated with animal cloning.
What are the trade implications?
Although the EU EFSA has tentatively reached the same conclusion as the US FDA, they may take different final decisions, complicating trade in meat and dairy between the two trade blocs. Potential differences with regard to labelling requirements could also complicate trade. The EU has previously rejected hormone-treated beef imports from the US, and takes a much stricter approach to genetically-modified foods than the US. These differences between the trade partners have already led to two major dispute cases at the WTO.