Risk assessment of meat and milk from cloned animals.
Research on, and commercialization of, cloned cattle has been conducted for more than 20 years. Early techniques relied on the physical splitting of embryos or using embryo cells for nuclear transfer to generate cloned animals. Milk and meat from these animals entered into the human food market with no evidence of problems. With the advent of nuclear transfer, which enables the direct transference and preservation of high-value meat- and milk-producing genotypes to offspring, concerns have been raised about whether the products from somatic cell nuclear transfer-produced animals are safe for human consumption. Studies on the biochemical properties of food products from cloned and noncloned animals have thus far not detected any differences. All data to date indicate no significant differences in the measured parameters between animals created by nuclear transfer and normally bred animals. Public acceptance of cloned animal products depends upon forthcoming US Food and Drug Administration approval along with convincing safety data.
Yang
Xiangzhong
X
Center for Regenerative Biology and Department of Animal Science, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut 06269-4243, USA. xiangzhong.yang@uconn.edu
Tian
X Cindy
XC
Kubota
Chikara
C
Page
Ray
R
Xu
Jie
J
Cibelli
Jose
J
Seidel
George
G
D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D019976:Cloning, Organism; D003257:Consumer Product Safety; D005504:Food Analysis / Q000379:methods; D030841:Food, Genetically Modified; D008460:Meat / Q000032:analysis*; D008892:Milk / Q000737:chemistry*; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D012307:Risk Factors