From the archive, originally posted by: [ spectre ]

MIGHT BE SAFER ACTUALLY

(NOTE: COCA-COLA FINDS WORMS ONLY in VIDEOS THAT USE AMERICAN PORK)

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T-BONE CLONE
http://www.nypost.com/seven/04022007/business/t_bone_clone_business_paul_tharp.htm
FDA to LIFT FOOD BAN TIED to NEW SCIENCE
by PAUL THARP / April 2, 2007

“Regulators are taking a giant step closer today to let stores and restaurants sell cloned T-bone steaks and pork chops – all designed to be tastier, healthier and cheaper. After a five-year moratorium on the sale of food from cloned farm animals, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is wrapping up its public comments today on lifting the ban for using meats from cloned animal and their offspring. Food industry experts expect the FDA to give the green light later this year – following a five-year study – to a wide variety of cloned animal projects under way for more than a decade. “The agency has a long history of supporting what the food industry wants, as long as there’s adequate science to work with,” said Dr. Jonathan Probber, a food industry consultant. “It’s clear there will be a number of limited projects – the food industry is spending enormously on this research.”

What the industry wants most, he said, is the ability to get meat more cheaply and with more controls over animal-borne diseases such as so-called mad cow and bird flu maladies. Of the scores of cloning projects under way, some focus largely on meat production. Most are aimed at creating super breeding animals that would be used only for developing offspring, not test-tube steaks. One project, at the Hillman Ranch in Cameron, Tex., breeds only show business animals with good looks and proper moods – calm horses for parades, bucking bulls for rodeos and showy cows for livestock fairs. Smithfield Foods, the world’s largest pork producer, has been bankrolling several cloning projects at ViaGen Inc., the nation’s largest animal cloning firm.

Over the next 10 years, Smithfield expects cloned pork to account for half the commercial pork market. Cloned animals in dairy and beef industries would capture about 10 percent of the market. Consumer resistance would be a problem facing cloned foods on the store shelves. Some food companies, such as Dean Foods Co., have publicly stated they won’t use milk from cloned animals. Kraft hasn’t issued an opinion yet about the expected new rules. Lawmakers in the House and Senate, and a few states, have prepared legislation requiring food labeling for meat and dairy products made from cloned animals. The FDA says it would be difficult to enforce such rules because there is no way to distinguish between cloned products and noncloned products.”

{paul [dot] tharp [at] nypost [dot] com}