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Animals suffer from cloning warns EU
Last updated at 16:07pm on 22.01.08
Dolly the cloned sheep: EU ethics experts say farming cloned livestock should be banned
Animal welfare campaigners welcomed the call from the European Group on Ethics.
RSPCA scientist Dr Nikki Osborne said: "Cloning causes untold suffering but is purely commercial. The cost in welfare in no way justifies any perceived benefits."
The ethics group wants safety and welfare conditions on any decision to accept clone farm food. But they are so strict they could make it too difficult to farm clones commercially.
The report was triggered after the Daily Mail revealed last January that a clone farm calf called Dundee Paradise had been born on a Shropshire farm.
Cloning breeding stock could create monster pigs and supersize cows.
But the technology means many cloned offspring die just before or soon after birth. Some have malformed lungs, hearts and kidneys.
The ethics group said: "Considering the suffering, we do not see arguments to justify production of food from clones and their offspring."
Food safety chiefs in Europe and the U.S. both, however, recently announced their support for clone farming and food.
Reader views (1)
For crying out loud. The technology is still in its infancy. You simply cannot predict the future impact or conditions of Animal cloning.
You may want to argue some other ethical issues and those may be valid, but to discourage development because the early efforts have setbacks? Get real.
You might just as well argue that young brides should give up cooking to spare their husband the pain of culinary experimentation.
- Turtle Chris, Toledo Ohio, USA
