The European Commission again proposed a ban on food and products from cloned animals, two years after rejecting a similar measure. If approved, the latest draft rules would ban the use of cloning in commercial farming within the 28-nations for five years and prohibit the sale and import of food such as meat or milk from cloned animals.
No food-business operator has so far applied for authorization to sell food produced by cloning, the commission said. Risk assessment by the European Food Safety Authority has found no sign that food safety for meat and milk from clones and their offspring was any different from conventionally bred animals. EU governments in 2011 rejected the Parliament’s demand to ban food produced from the offspring of cloned animals, saying such a move could provoke retaliation by trade partners.
Opponents of the ban say it would require regulators to draw up a family tree for every slice of cheese or salami sold in Europe, and the Commission said it needed more time to analyze whether such a labeling scheme was feasible.
But consumer groups said more than 80 percent of Europeans are opposed to eating food from clones and their offspring, and accused the Commission of putting trade relations ahead of the wishes of citizens. While cloning is not currently widespread in Europe, there have been reports of milk from the offspring of cloned cows being sold in Britain.
Read the full, original story: EU Commission renews bid to ban food from cloned animals
