Cloned Cows Cause Concern

(AP)  As the U.S. Food and Drug Administration considers whether to lift a voluntary ban on selling food from cloned animals, the agency is getting some resistance from an unusual source: the dairy industry.

Trade groups for farmers and companies that use dairy products are not enthusiastic about introducing milk from cloned cows into the marketplace, fearing consumers would be leery about the products.

"There's a strong general feeling among our members that consumers are not receptive to milk from cloned cows," said Susan Ruland, a spokeswoman for the International Dairy Foods Association, which represents food manufacturers that use dairy products.

Cloning is the creation of an animal from the DNA of a single parent to create an offspring genetically identical to the parent.

"This seems to be one of the things where technology seems to drop something in the lap of the food companies," Ruland said in a recent interview. "It's not driven by the market or any benefit to the consumer."

A 2002 Gallup poll found that 66 percent of American consumers said that cloning animals was "morally wrong." A March survey by the International Food Information Council, an industry trade group, reported that 63 percent of consumers would likely not buy food from cloned animals, even if the FDA determined the products were safe.

Last month, the National Milk Producers Federation, representing dairy farmers, approved a position statement that it "does not at this time support milk from cloned cows entering the marketplace until FDA determines that milk from cloned cows is the same as milk from conventionally bred animals."

Because cloning a cow is expensive, about $20,000, selling meat from a clone wouldn't be financially viable. The main commercial benefit would be to sell milk from the clone of a prized cow, or for breeding purposes.

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