Cloned amimals use as food?

Question

Recently there was a report about cloned animals being used as meat supply. These animals would then be in the supermarket without a seal to show that the aminal is cloned.
I just want to know if this is safe to eat because the whole thing seems kinda freaky to me. Also how many of you guys would like eat a cloned animal?

Answer 1

I would not. There is still a debate in scientific circles but thus far it appears that the food may be safe. My wife and I eat only grass fed meats and organic vegetables. The cloned stuff may be okay but I just do not feel comfortable with it.

Answer 2

i live in an area where cattle, pigs and chicken are raised for meat. most ranchers and farmers do not seem to think that the whole cloning thing will ever really take off. The process is far too expensive, the producers would never be able to charge enough to cover the cost, and the general public would not support it.

Cloned meat is not "genetically altered" meat, and should be relatively safe to eat - a clone is an exact COPY of an existing animal. Cloning could provide a way to copy an existing breed that has certain desirable qualities (like disease resistance & low fat to muscle ratio) without encountering possible over-breeding or inbreeding problems.

The meat we see in the grocery stores is already "genetically altered" by selective breeding - a practice of breeding the best specimines from any particular breed to obtain the best quality animal, which has been practiced as long as there have been cattle/swine/poultry for sale.

the article you are refering to only stated that the FDA is looking into approving cloned meat for sale. it is not happening, and is not likely to in the near future, for the cost factor if no other reason.

Answer 3

There are absolutely no safety issues with cloned animal meat - other than the same safety issues with all meat.

Since they would be EXACTLY the same as their parent, if there was nothing dangerous about eating their parent, there is nothing dangerous about eating them.

This is cloning, not genetic engineering. No genes are being ded to them or taken away. Just a duplicate of another animal.

In most cases they will probably be cloning animals to breed the old fashioned way. Because it would be pretty expensive to clone each and every cow or pig. So, the meat you get in the store would be just the same (and just as unhealthy) as the normal meat.

Animals have already been breed for thousands of years to be completely docile for domestication. Nobody wants to be around a wild beast that weighs 800 lbs.

Answer 4

It costs approx $10,000 to clone a single animal. I know someone who had a goat cloned. The likelyhood of you eating cloned animal meat is about a million to one, due to the cost of cloning them. The only reason they approved it for consumption is in the event one of the cloned ones ends up in the food chain. The only reason for cloning at this time is to reproduce superior breeding stock without taking 20 years in the breeding pen to do it.

They are perfectly safe, however.

Answer 5

You do understand that a cloned animal is not an animal that steps into a machine and it uses nuclear radiation + magic + science stuff to *pop* create another animal. this might give you an idea. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloning
I would say it is ethically and healthfully the same as regular meat (now this can be interpreted differently depending on if you are into meat or a person who thinks meat is bad.)

Answer 6

After learning about this issue, and finding out how badly treated animals are, I quit eating meat altogether. It was a tough choice, but a good one. My 12 year old daughter and I are pescatarian now (no meat, but eat seafood) I read recently that the cloned animals will be genetically altered to make them completely docile so they wont cause problems in the horrid conditions they live in. I find this to be OUTRAGEOUS!

Answer 7

I would not eat it, if that were the case(us not knowing we are eating cloned meat) I would probly become a vegitarian. Cloned meat can not be good for us to consume. There has got to be some sort of long term effect, like on our own reproductive organs or something.

Answer 8

If they are going to put in the supermarket, then it probably safe but I definetely wouldn't eat it, i still shudder the idea of animals being cloned. Its so wrong!