It was 10 years ago that the first sheep was cloned. Remember Dolly? Now cloning has reached a new phase. The U.S. government has declared meat and milk derived from cloned animals to be safe for human consumption.

But what do you think?

Participate in our Poll Question for the Week and let us know.

According to an article in myway news:
“Consumer anxiety is serious enough that several major food companies, including the big dairy producer Dean Foods, Co. and Smithfield Foods Inc., say they aren’t planning to sell products from cloned animals.”

Myway news also reports that cloning is accelerating in practice and becoming more and more of an option despite the cost of over $10,000 to clone a cow. From their article, “The two main U.S. cloning companies, Viagen Inc. and Trans Ova Genetics, already have produced more than 600 cloned animals for U.S. breeders, including copies of prize-winning cows and rodeo bulls.”

Even though the government called food from cloned animals safe, they also called for a voluntary moratorium on sales of meat or milk from clones in order to “get the safety findings to foreign trade partners and food companies.”

I don’t think that’s going to slow down the cloners. An exceptional milk-producing cow can give 60 to 70 pounds of milk a day. If you can clone that kind of cow it might be worth the cost of making ice-cream clones a reality.

I don’t want to bias your answer to the poll we’re posting, but in case you forgot, Dolly died young compared to the normal lifespan for her species. And you should know concerns about longevity cropped up in the government report which issued this caveat: “Currently it is not possible to draw any conclusions regarding longevity of livestock clones or possible long-term health consequences” from cloning.

Well, I think I’ll have my ice-cream from a cow born the old-fashioned way if you don’t mind. The government may say it’s safe, but I’d rather be sure.

That’s it, from the edge of the food world,

Bob