In Oz, Cloned Beef In 2-3 Years

[dumpthemonarchy]

Kill all cloned animals.

Cloned beef to be on menu

Cloned beef to be on menu

Jim O'Rourke

September 5, 2010


AUSTRALIANS will be eating beef from the offspring of cloned cattle within two to three years, the creator of Australia's first cloned cow has predicted.

Cattle are currently cloned for breeding purposes, but Richard Fry, founder of Clone International, said meat and milk products from their progeny could be safely consumed by humans.

The Melbourne firm has created between 15 and 20 beef cattle in Australia and New Zealand.

Dr Fry's company has the exclusive licence to clone cattle, sheep and horses in Australia and New Zealand. It provides clients with exact matches of their ''elite'' breeding stock.

''The progeny of the first clones will probably not enter the food chain because they are too valuable for breeding, but their progeny will,'' he said.

''We already have progeny from the clones so I'd expect products to be available within two or three years.''

In 2008, the US Food and Drug Administration declared that food from cloned cattle, pigs, goats and their offspring was safe to eat. US experts have said that wide use of clones in agriculture would result in meat with consistent texture and flavour.

There was controversy in the UK last month after two bulls in Scotland were slaughtered and their meat was sold in pies and burgers. There was also a press report that milk from the offspring of a clone had been illegally sold in supermarkets.

Clone International has been in regular contact with food regulator Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ), which has been monitoring the cloning industry.
There is a voluntary agreement in place between Australian cloning researchers and the regulators to keep cloned animals and their offspring out of the food chain.

Dr Fry said a wide range of international scientific research showed there was no reason for consumers to fear cloned products. ''The data shows there is no difference between the clones, or the products of clones, and what happens naturally,'' he said.



Source: The Age

Sydney Morning Herald

 

[dumpthemonarchy]

Cattle have no trouble making new cattle. A good example of science running amok and using us as guinea pigs.

 

[mentalfloss]

I always thought we could clone the meat itself without effectively 'killing' the animal again. If that was the case I would support this 100%

 

[dumpthemonarchy]

I always thought we could clone the meat itself without effectively 'killing' the animal again. If that was the case I would support this 100%

Sort of like adding water to a lump of beef and expecting it to grow?

 

[TenPenny]

Did you realize that a huge number of the dairy cattle we have now in Canada are a result of embryo transplants - the (prizewinning) cow is inseminated by normal or artificial means (from prizewinning bull), and then flushed - the fertilized eggs are then separated and frozen, and then implanted in other cows (of lesser lineage) who then give birth to the calves of the prizewinning parents.

 

[mentalfloss]

Sort of like adding water to a lump of beef and expecting it to grow?

:lol:.. well, it is possible to clone specific organs is it not? If cloning somehow allows for us to produce meat without actually killing animals is that not a good thing?

 

[dumpthemonarchy]

:lol:.. well, it is possible to clone specific organs is it not? If cloning somehow allows for us to produce meat without actually killing animals is that not a good thing?

Fact 1 about cloning is that the animal produced tends to be weaker than the parent. Like a photocopy of a photocopy eventually fades to nothing.

Cloning is a genetically inferior method of producing anything. So why do it? Because it's cheaper. That's why. Capital needs restraint here and we're going to pay dearly for our "cheap" food I'm guessing.

Getting more diversity in cattle is a good idea, but the current system with all its subsidies for "cheap" feedlot mass produced beef doesn't go for it.

 

[mentalfloss]

So when you say 'cheap' food.. you mean to say that it is qualitatively bad for humans? Would we be more likely to get sick eating cloned food?

And you still didn't answer my other question about killing animals. Ethically, if we can somehow produce cloned meat which allows for less animals to be killed, then that can be a good thing - though of course the healthiness of that food is also important.

 

[dumpthemonarchy]

So when you say 'cheap' food.. you mean to say that it is qualitatively bad for humans? Would we be more likely to get sick eating cloned food?

And you still didn't answer my other question about killing animals. Ethically, if we can somehow produce cloned meat which allows for less animals to be killed, then that can be a good thing - though of course the healthiness of that food is also important.

"Cheap" food means that the subsidies given to the big feedlot and foodpacker operations lower the price of food artifically.There are numerous regulations that work against small farms and ranches as opposed to large corporate feedlot operations.

I think your idea of wanting meat without killing animals is impossible. Even if you are a vegetarian, farms must clear land and keep most wild animals off it. So many will die as a result. Or, if you want your food from a laboratory, you must again clear land for a building that animals used to range on to feed you and me. Can't be done. More human food generally less food for animals. We compete.