Cloned Food. Do You Want To Know?

Hey folks,

Happy Friday. Another week gone. Many of you are looking forward to another three or in my case, four, day Weekend. The big news yesterday was President Ford, Sean Hannity {Or whomever was hosting his show} had an hour long conversation with a terrorist adviser and planner, or whatever. I got a call and told to tune in. I could tell in the first 5 seconds that this was a fake. After the hour they told you that he was some professor, and it was a skit. Other than that, the normal "Global Warming" stupidity, the war is bad, Bush is an idiot, and the Democrats know best. But then there is THIS story.

Cloned animals for dairy and meat? The FDA approved this with no real scientific proof that this is safe? Then you have some that do NOT want you to even know you are eating it? What is this all about? According to the Boston.com

By Libby Quaid, AP Food And Farm Writer December 27, 2006

"WASHINGTON --Federal scientists have concluded there is no difference between food from cloned animals and food from conventional livestock, setting the stage for the government to declare Thursday that cloned animals are safe for the human food supply.

The Food and Drug Administration planned to brief industry groups in advance of an announcement. The agency indicated it would approve cloned livestock in a scientific journal article published online earlier this month.

The agency "concludes that meat and milk from clones and their progeny is as safe to eat as corresponding products derived from animals produced using contemporary agricultural practices," FDA scientists Larisa Rudenko and John C. Matheson wrote in the Jan. 1 issue of Theriogenology."

So you are telling me that there is no difference? What about the sped up growth? What effect will this process have on those consuming the meat? Drinking the milk? Already you can see the difference in our kids maturing faster than ever, some blame the milk and hormones along with other preservatives in food NOW. What happens when they start eating cloned meat?

Not everyone is happy about this,

"Consumers are going to be having a product that has potential safety issues and has a whole load of ethical issues tied to it, without any labeling," said Joseph Mendelson, legal director of the Center for Food Safety.

Carol Tucker Foreman, director of food policy at the Consumer Federation of America, said the FDA is ignoring research that shows cloning results in more deaths and deformed animals than other reproductive technologies.

The consumer federation will ask food companies and supermarkets to refuse to sell food from clones, she said.

"Meat and milk from cloned animals have no benefit for consumers, and consumers don't want them in their foods," Foreman said.

As both the AP and ABC News points out,

"Meat and milk from cloned animals may not appear in supermarkets for years despite being deemed by the government as safe to eat. But don't be surprised if "clone-free" labels appear sooner. Ben & Jerry's, for one, wants consumers to know that its ice cream comes from regular cows and not clones. The Ben & Jerry's label already says its farmers don't use bovine growth hormone.

"We want to make sure people are confident with what's in our pints," company spokesman Rob Michalak said. "We haven't yet landed on exactly how we want to express that publicly."

For food that does come from clones, the Food and Drug Administration is unlikely to require labels, officials said."

So they do NOT want you to know what you are eating? WHY? I eat Chicken just about every day, but I do enjoy a good steak once in a while. Sometimes burgers. Hey, WAIT A SECOND!! What about this? According to the New York "Crimes" {Times} yesterday in their editorial section, they said,

"When you think about the growth of human population over the last century or so, it is all too easy to imagine it merely as an increase in the number of humans. But as we multiply, so do all the things associated with us, including our livestock. At present, there are about 1.5 billion cattle and domestic buffalo and about 1.7 billion sheep and goats. With pigs and poultry, they form a critical part of our enormous biological footprint upon this planet.

Just how enormous was not really apparent until the publication of a new report, called "Livestock’s Long Shadow," by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Consider these numbers. Global livestock grazing and feed production use "30 percent of the land surface of the planet." Livestock — which consume more food than they yield — also compete directly with humans for water. And the drive to expand grazing land destroys more biologically sensitive terrain, rain forests especially, than anything else.

But what is even more striking, and alarming, is that livestock are responsible for about 18 percent of the global warming effect, more than transportation’s contribution. The culprits are methane — the natural result of bovine digestion — and the nitrogen emitted by manure. Deforestation of grazing land adds to the effect.

There are no easy trade-offs when it comes to global warming — such as cutting back on cattle to make room for cars. The human passion for meat is certainly not about to end anytime soon. As "Livestock’s Long Shadow" makes clear, our health and the health of the planet depend on pushing livestock production in more sustainable directions."

More sustainable directions? Do you think that cloning MORE is what they had in mind. Think about this. How can this concept of cloning livestock be a good thing to the environmental wackos? Seriously, what’s the point? Where is the NEED? Is not the natural process working just fine? According to the NYT, it seems to be working TOO good.

I’m sorry folks, but there is not enough science in the world to make me feel safe eating cloned meat. Especially since apparently we already have too many natural livestock. They are "killing the planet."

If they do decide that they want to go this route, I don’t know, maybe they can make cows that don’t fart, you had better bet I WANT to know. I’m with Ben and Jerry on this one. I want the choice. If you have no problem with eating cloned meat, dairy, whatever, hey, more power to you. But if you, like me, have a major problem with it, then they NEED to let us know in advance. Label it. Then people can chose which they want to eat.
Peter

Sources;
AP- "FDA's OK may spark 'clone-free' labels"
Boston.com- "FDA set to OK food from cloned animals"
ABC News - "FDA OKs Food From Cloned Animals"
NYT-"Meat and the Planet"