European Union Lawmakers To Ban Cloning Animals For Food, Vote To Halt Imports From Other Countries

Lawmakers with the European Union (E.U.) have banned the use of cloned animals for a food source, further strengthening the ban by including provisions to halt the import of cloned animals as a food source from other countries outside of the E.U.

The 28-nation bloc of the European Union, according to Discovery News, has voted and is ready to ban the use of cloned animals as a food source. However, their discussion led to further strengthen the ban and halt the import of cloned animals from other countries, rather than allow importers to find a way around the ban. The stronger ban also allows the E.U. to put resident’s minds at ease that they may be consuming unapproved meats from foreign sources.

The use of cloned animals as a food source came to life in 2001. Promptly, the FDA in the United States worked diligently to ban the use of cloned animals as a food source as concern over the health of eating a cloned animal was in question. However, in 2008, the Food and Drug Administration “concluded that meat and milk from cow, pig, and goat clones and the offspring of any animal clones are as safe as food we eat every day.”

Giuila Moi, a member of the E.U. agricultural committee, stated that the decision to ban cloned animals as a food source was taken as a safety measure for both human and animal subjects, according to the Cattle Site.

“We didn’t fall back on compromises such as the marketing and the opportunity to introduce products derived from cloned animals and their descendants in the member states. Also, we have excluded the possibility that cloning of animals could become a common practice within the borders of the EU.”

The proposal is expected to be finalized on September 8 and is believed to be enacted in 2016.

Cloning will not be banned for other purposes, including research and preservation of endangered breeds. The proposal will only impact using clones as food sources.

The discussion also touched base on the taboo subject of cloned humans, which the European Union has frowned upon within its boundaries, insisting on the import of reproductive material from third world countries. However, they are considering a ban on all cloned human parts as part of the new rulings.

“We want to ban comprehensively. Not just the use of cloning techniques but the imports of reproductive material, clones and their descendants. I’d like to ask the European Commission to rethink this whole thing.”

[Photo by Getty Images / Getty Images News]