EC bans cloned meat sales but allows imports
The European Commission (EC) has put forward proposals to ban animal cloning in food production and sales for at least five years. However, the import of cloned food products to the EU has been given the green light.
The announcement that animal cloning will be banned for five years has been welcomed by the food industry as a whole, due to concerns over public health and animal welfare if the practice was to become widespread. However, many animal welfare, farming and food job groups have criticised the EC's decision to allow cloned meat products to be imported to Europe.
Peter Stevenson, the chief policy advisor at Compassion in World Farming, has said:
This last sentiment was echoed by David Cotton, the chair of the Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers, who also said that the confusion over which new technologies farmers can and can't use needs to be cleared up.
The announcement that animal cloning will be banned for five years has been welcomed by the food industry as a whole, due to concerns over public health and animal welfare if the practice was to become widespread. However, many animal welfare, farming and food job groups have criticised the EC's decision to allow cloned meat products to be imported to Europe.
Peter Stevenson, the chief policy advisor at Compassion in World Farming, has said:
"We welcome the ban on European cloning and the commission's concern about the welfare implications of cloning,"
"But we are very disappointed that imports of cloned semen, embryos and food products are being allowed. We don't accept that it is impossible to trace the origins of cloned meat products.
This last sentiment was echoed by David Cotton, the chair of the Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers, who also said that the confusion over which new technologies farmers can and can't use needs to be cleared up.
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