Products from cloned cattle safe

12/04/05 According to a report by scientists at the University of Connecticut and the Kagoshima Prefectural Cattle Breeding Development Institute in Japan, there exists no difference between meat and milk from cloned cattle and those obtained from normally bred cattle.

The researchers led by Xiangzhong Yang, a professor at the University of Connecticut, cloned a Japanese black beef bull and Holstein dairy cow using somatic cell nuclear transfer, the same technique used to clone the sheep Dolly in year 1996. The researchers compared the meat and milk from the clones to that of animals of similar age, genetics, and breed created through natural reproduction. Analysis of protein, fat, and other variables routinely assessed by the dairy industry revealed no significant differences in the milk.

The researchers also examined more than 100 meat quality criteria, of which 90 percent showed no noteworthy variations. Butabout eight variables related to the amount of fat and fatty acidsin the meat were significantly higher in the meat from the clones.But the authors said these higher fat levels are within beef industry standards.

Debate has surrounded whether it is safe to eat cloned livestock and their offspring. US federal regulators began lookingat cloned food safety four years ago as it became clear that the cloning technique that led to the 1996 birth of Dolly the sheep had commercial potential.

The study appears in this week's issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The Food and Drug Administration is expected to decide soon on whether or not to allow the sale of products from cloned cattle for human consumption.