EC Suggests Moratorium On Use Of Animal Cloning For Food Production

The European Commission says it will recommend that animal cloning for the production of food, along with use of cloned farm animals and marketing of food from cloned animals, be suspended for at least five years. After that period, the temporary measures would be reviewed. The EC also will propose creating a system for tracing the sources of imported reproductive materials for clones, such as semen and embryos of clones. Farmers and industry would then be able to establish a database that would track the animals created from the reproductive materials. The Commission said the proposal for a moratorium, prompted by requests from the European Parliament and Member States for a specific policy, are “a realistic and feasible solution to respond to the present welfare concerns."