As detailed by a recent Washington Post Article ("Cloned Food Products
Near Reality," 9/16/02), cloning technology is rapidly infiltrating the
animal agriculture industry. Although the Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) imposed an informal moratorium on selling the products of cloned
livestock last year, many farmers who invested in cloned breeding stock
are growing anxious to begin marketing meat and milk from cloned animals.
Many animal protection groups oppose the cloning of farmed animals, noting
that the advent of cloning into the factory farming system can only
enhance the suffering of farmed animals. According to the Post,"Though
clones that survive to adulthood typically seem healthy, they die in
inordinate numbers in the womb or just after birth, and the pregnancies
appear to be stressful for the surrogate mothers."
Furthermore, cloning may very well accelerate the already disturbing and
destructive trend toward factory farming; large farms that invest in
cloning may create animals who are nothing more than meat, egg, and
milk-producing machines, with slim resemblance to their non-cloned
ancestors.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Contact the FDA, and let them know that you are concerned about the advent
of cloning into factory farming systems and the effects it may have on
animal suffering. Tell them to formally factor animal welfare
considerations into their deliberations on cloning.
Stephen Sundlof, Director
Center for Veterinary Medicine
Food and Drug Administration
7519 Standish Place, HFV-12
Rockville, Maryland 20855
phone: 301-827-3800
Email: CVMHomeP@cvm.fda.gov
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