Animal Cloning and Food: More Than a Feeling
Cloned animals are more and more becoming parts of our everyday lives, the Wall Street Journal reports:
Don Coover, a veterinarian, rancher and owner of SEK Genetics in Galesburg, Kan., estimated that "hundreds, maybe thousands, of offspring of clones" of beef cattle already exist in the U.S.—though that is a fraction of the nation's 97 million head of cattle. He said he has sold about 30 offspring of clones to be slaughtered for food.
Reason to panic? Some people aren't thrilled:
"As a mom of two young children, it makes me very uneasy, very nervous that these things are in the food supply," said Alexis Joyce, a 35-year-old homemaker in Arlington, Va., who shops mostly at farmers' markets. "It just doesn't feel right."
I find this quote fascinating. I think it's a perfect example of the sentiments behind the opposition to cloning and the larger issue of genetically modified food: "It doesn't feel right." The Food and Drug Administration has found food products from the offspring of cloned animals to be safe, and I know of no compelling scientific data to cast doubt on that ruling. But for some people, the issue isn't what the science says—it's about the "ick" factor that surrounds cloning.
But should regulation be forced onto the biotech industry—one of the most vital entrepreneurial sectors today—on the basis of a hunch?
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Reader Comments
People Need To Know The Facts About Animal Cloning Before They Judge
Kay Lobe-- you are a 16 year old who knows how to use an internet. I read those same facts on a site. No one said animal cloning is 'cool', but it is certainly something that scientists should continue. Animal cloning can save millions of lives. Did you know that someone dies of starvation every 3.6 seconds? World hunger could be solved if animals were cloned for livestock purposes. And before you go and say that is animal cruelty, look at what animals are used for today: animals are already used for consumption and many human products. We are omnivores, meaning we were born to eat MEAT. Unfortunately, animals have always killed other animals. If livestocks were cloned, food could be distributed to all those who die daily from hunger. Moreover, animal clones aren't treated cruelly; on the contrary, clones are treated very well (take Dolly, for example) because they are so important for research. Have you ever known someone who has died from a disease? I did. My aunt died of cancer when I was 10. Animal cloning can not only provide better treatments for diseases such as cancer, it could also be used to CURE the diseases. And another thing: do you have rare genetic makeup? If you do then you would most likely die if you ever needed an organ transplant, because more than 3000 Americans die while waiting for an organ every year. Not complete animals, but their organs could be cloned to use in xenotransplantation, meaning that no one would ever die from a shortage of organs again. And if you say that these are all for the benefit of humans, animal cloning can be used to save endangered species from certain extinction. We can clone endangered animals and breed them so that they can repopulate. Have you ever seen a picture of the Red Panda, tiger, snow leopard, or has there ever been an endangered animal you feel strongly for? Well, with animal cloning, we could save them. We could also clone animals with stronger resilence to disease and, when they breed with normal animals, this would strengthen the overall health of that species. Animal cloning could also be used in plant cloning, which could reestablish better resilent plants. Animals will have to die because the experiments are still fairly new, but it hasn't been perfected yet. Once it has, many more animals and people will be saved than die.
This article is right; most people oppose animal cloning without really understanding how much it can help us. The food for animal cloning would be perfectly safe, and there are definitely more benefits than losses. And for people who say cloning isn't natural...did you know that identical twins are clones in the same sense these animals would be? The only difference would be the way they were reproduced.
Kay Lobe- hard to believe another 16 year old knows more than YOU, huh?
Cloning is a Misuse of technology
truth about animal cloning
Before u tell people animal cloning is 'cool!', and not cruel, you should get your facts straight. Did you know that 95% of cloning fails? and that Birth defects, phycological impairments, illness and premature death is the norm, not an exeption. 65% of clones die from a disease that makes them grow bigger than they should, killing both the host and the unborn clone. If you want to know more, just e-mail me.
(ha! to believe a 16 year old knows more than u)
truth about animal cloning
Before u tell people animal cloning is 'cool!', and not cruel, you should get your facts straight. Did you know that 95% of cloning fails? and that Birth defects, phycological impairments, illness and premature death is the norm, not an exeption. 65% of clones die from a disease that makes them grow bigger than they should, killing both the host and the unborn clone. If you want to know more, just e-mail me.
(ha! to believe a 16 year old knows more than u)
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