Mark Walton on clones in our food supply
The first transgenic cow clone designed to fight mastisis. (Credit: USDA. Photo by Scott Bauer)
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently endorsed the safety of meat and milk derived from cloned animals.
Mark Walton is the president of ViaGen, a leading cloning company based in Austin, Texas. EarthSky’s Lindsay Patterson spoke to Walton at the 2008 meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Dr. Walton makes a good point that I believe is lost on most of the consuming public: Consumers are extremely unlikely ever to eat meat from a cloned animal. It is the offspring and grand-offspring that will make it into the food supply. The offspring of cloned animals will be absolutely no different than offspring of the genetic donor (original) animal, so it is sort of a non-issue.
I would agree, it doesn’t seem to be an issue. It seems the only reason people may think it is would be the stigma of cloning and experimentation has turned them off of having anything to do with it. I think this stigma is decreasing, and should have no effect on this situation.
People have been smoking tobacco from clones plants since the 1970s
Yea and look where that has gotten the smokers—Kind of wierd thinking that you are eating the same steak twice 12 months apart.
Pretty soon you will be gleefully cheering that you can screw the same people over and over when you really get into human cloning.
Hey I remember you, Here let me screw you like I did your likness 20 years ago.
Amazing science—misused always— whether plant animal or human. I don’t care who or what it saves.
Genetic engineering has some merit—If we can engineer out that liberal gene—-Now that would be an amazing breakthrough!