Large scale animal cloning unlikely: scientists

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Large scale animal cloning unlikely: scientists

 

Tue Jul 10, 2007 10:51AM EDT

 

By Michael Kahn

 

LONDON (Reuters) - Cloning animals will not be useful on a large scale

but the technology offers farmers an important tool to increase food

production and protect animals from disease, scientists said on

Tuesday.

 

Critics contend that not enough is known about cloning to make it

safe, while advocates say it can improve the quality of meat and dairy

products.

 

Scientists at a briefing to address the intense debate said the

technology was just the next step in artificial breeding and would

only ever account for a small part of food production.

 

" Cloning is never going to be a large scale breeding system, " Simon

Best, chairman of the UK-based BioIndustry Association, told

reporters. " It has niche applications. "

 

Cloning involves taking cell nuclei from adults and fusing them into

egg cells that are implanted into a surrogate mother.

 

Scientists said some uses could be to clone animals that are less

resistant to certain diseases or to reproduce " elite " livestock that

can churn out more milk or produce healthier offspring.

 

Keith Campbell, a researcher at the University of Nottingham, compared

cloning to artificial insemination -- which the scientists noted was

used to breed the cows that produce around 75 percent of milk.

 

Cloning can also help protect rare or dying breeds, said Campbell, who

helped work on cloning the first adult mammal, Dolly the sheep.

 

" Cloning is just another technique we can add, " he said. " The ability

to integrate cloning into the production line should be allowed to

farmers. "

 

Scientists said approval of the controversial technology would not

lead to a flood of cloned animals because the industry would need to

weigh the costs and benefits of the technique.

 

Europe's top food safety agency -- the European Food Safety Authority

-- is currently mulling a decision on whether meat and milk from

cloned animals are safe to eat and should be in supermarkets across

the region.

 

Best predicted the process would take much longer than in the United

States, where the Food and Drug Administration in December issued a

draft ruling that said milk and meat from some cloned animals was safe

to eat.

 

" This is not going to hit the supermarket shelves in Europe for a long

time, " Best said. " It will take more time than in the United States

and it will be more heavily regulated in Europe. "

 

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