TAKE ACTION: Citizens for Health Criticizes FDA Decision to Allow Cloned Foods

Washington, DC, January 15, 2008 - Today the Food and Drug Administration announced its determination that milk and meat from cloned animals are safe for sale to the public.  In addition, the FDA is requiring no tracking system for clones or labeling of products produced from clones or their offspring.  This action comes at a time when the U.S. Senate has voted twice to delay FDA's decision on cloned animals until additional safety and economic studies can be completed by the National Academy of Sciences and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). 

Citizens for Health joins with the Center for Food Safety and dozens of other food industry, consumer, and animal welfare groups in blasting this decision as insensitive as well as irresponsible, since it flies in the face of opinion polls showing that the majority of Americans do not want milk or meat from cloned animals in their food.  A December 2006 poll by the Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology found that nearly two-thirds of U.S. consumers were uncomfortable with animal cloning.  A national survey conducted this year by Consumers Union found that 89 percent of Americans want to see cloned foods labeled, while 69 percent said that they have concerns about cloned meat and dairy products in the food supply.  A recent Gallup Poll reported that more than 60 percent of Americans believe that it is immoral to clone animals, while the Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology found that a similar percentage say that, despite FDA approval, they won't buy milk from cloned animals.

The FDA has also issued a guidance document for food producers. It fails to require any special procedures for tracking or handling food products from clones.  It also fails to require labeling of any kind on food products from clones or their offspring, which deprives consumers of their right to know about the origins of their food.

In its risk assessment of cloned food, the FDA claims to have evaluated extensive peer reviewed safety studies to support its conclusion, yet a recent report issued by CFS, Not Ready for Prime Time, shows the assessment only references three peer-reviewed food safety studies, all of which focus on the narrow issue of milk from cloned cows.  What is even more disturbing is that these studies were partially funded by the same biotech firms that produce clones for profit.  

To read the Executive Summary of the report, click here.

To read the full report, click here.

(Both reports require Adobe Acrobat Reader)