Meat and milk from animals bred by cloning would be safe to eat, European Union officials said in a report that follows similar findings in the U.S. and may bring such foods closer to market.
No differences in nutritional value have been seen between products from cloned animals and those bred conventionally, the European Food Safety Authority said Friday in a draft opinion published on its Web site. The agency will take comments on the opinion through Feb. 25.
Cloned food has been controversial. A U.S. government proposal to allow sale of such products drew about 30,500 comments from the public, prompting calls from lawmakers for more study. The EU food safety officials said studies of nutrition, toxicity, allergic reactions and environmental effects have turned up no cause for concern.
As long as unhealthy clones would be detected before reaching the market, "the currently available data indicate that food products from clones of cattle and pigs and their progeny are as safe as food products of livestock derived by conventional breeding," according to the draft opinion that was requested last year by the European Commission.
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Final report expected in May
While death and disease rates of clones were "significantly higher" than for conventionally bred animals, EU regulators said in the draft that they expect the proportion of unhealthy clones "to decrease as the technology improves."
A final report from the food safety group is expected in May. EU ministers are expected to make a decision on the sale of cloned food products later this year, and all member countries will be bound by the rules.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration released a similar draft assessment of cloned foods in December 2006 that called cloned food products safe. The FDA has been expected to issue a final rule adopting those findings as soon as this month, although lawmakers have urged the agency to delay action for more study.
ViaGen Inc., an animal-cloning company based in Austin, Texas, said the FDA should complete its risk assessment and lift a voluntary moratorium that has kept cloned foods off the U.S. market.
The International Dairy Foods Association called for the FDA to listen to consumer concerns and continue studying cloned foods before backing their sale.
