US gives go-ahead for using cloned animals as food

London, January 16 : The US Government has given a nod to the marketing of food derived from cloned animals.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has decided in favour of cloning animals for food after six years of research, suggesting that meat and milk from cloned pigs, cattle and goats and their offspring is safe.

The agency believes that the sale of products from cloned animals will not pick a pace immediately because of cost. It expects that clones would first be used for breeding.

Similar draft conclusions were released by the agency in December 2006, and since then, new scientific information has strengthened its central view.

"After reviewing additional data and the public comments in the intervening year since the release of our draft documents on cloning, we conclude that meat and milk from cattle, swine, and goat clones are as safe as the food we eat every day," the BBC quoted Stephen Sundlof, director of the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, as saying.

Food derived from cloned animals would not require to be labelled as such.

ANI