Source: ViaGen

The US FDA has just pronounced that meat and milk from cloned animals is safe for human consumption and deemed "indistinguishable" from that of conventionally bred animals. This announcement follows shortly after the same conclusion was reached by the European Food Safety Authority last week.

The high cost of cloned animals means any animal products to reach the market will likely be derived from their offspring and the clones themselves reserved for breeding. As with GMOs, meat and milk from cloned animals will not be labeled, as they are, according to the FDA, the same as conventional food and do not pose a safety risk.

Supporters are already tauting the benefits of "shortening the genetic pool" in "providing meat and milk that is better and more consistent". Yet, according to Michael Pollan, that is, precisely, where our biggest fears should lie:

"I think the bigger concern with cloned animals is not personal health. It's what will it take to keep a herd of genetically identical chickens, horses or pigs alive? Sex and variation is what keeps us from getting wiped out by microbes. If everything is genetically identical, one disease can come along and wipe out the entire group. You will need so many antibiotics and so much sanitation to keep a herd of these creatures going. The bigger concern should be antibiotic resistance." -- NY Times

The FDA is also making it clear it is not taking any ethical or economical considerations into account in its safety assessment. Yet, animal welfare remains a major issue in the discussion, as cloned animals exhibit genetic abnormalities that result in high rates of diseases, deformities, and premature death.

In any case, despite reassurances that it will still be several years before any products derived from clones or their offspring reach the market, some say that has, in fact, already happened.

The complete FDA risk assessment.