FDA says cloned animals safe to eat

Food producers, including Tyson Foods Inc. and Dean Foods Co., said they won't use cloned foods anytime soon. (Alexander Joe/AFP/Getty Images/File 2003)

WASHINGTON - Cloned cows, pigs, goats, and their offspring are safe to enter the US food supply, regulators said over protests from lawmakers, consumer groups, and worried eaters.

The Food and Drug Administration backed the use of cloning in livestock after a seven-year review found no special risks associated with the technology. The Agriculture Department said it plans to keep in place a 2001 voluntary moratorium on the sales of such products until industry and consumer groups can agree on labeling and marketing restrictions.

The FDA received 30,500 comments on its initial proposal in 2006, and Congress urged more research. The agency's decision to move ahead anyway benefits closely held companies that have already cloned hundreds of elite animals. Food producers, including Tyson Foods Inc., the largest US meat processor, and Dean Foods Co., the biggest dairy distributor, said they won't use cloned foods anytime soon.

"It will likely be a long time before such animals would even be available for market," said Tyson spokesman Gary Mickelson in an e-mail yesterday. "Whatever measures we ultimately take will be guided by government regulations and the desires of our customers and consumers."

Cloned products may not reach the US market for years, said Bruce Knight, the Agriculture Department's undersecretary for marketing and regulatory programming, at a press conference.

"We conclude that meat and milk from cattle, swine, and goat clones are as safe as food we eat every day," said Stephen Sundlof, director of the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, in a statement. Authorities lack the authority to require labeling of products from cloned animals, Sundlof said.