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Monday, August 02, 2010

Food Issues - Topic of the Month: Milk from Cloned Cows

UPDATE 15 August: From Pete Redwood (UK)
It was explained by a geneticist on Radio 4 the other day that cloning involves extracting the DNA from one animal and inserting into the embryo of another.  
Sometimes the DNA gets "mixed up" and whilst the animal may appear to be perfect they cannot guarantee that everything functions correctly. Nobody knows if this may affect milk or meat - even subtly - as far as human consumption is concerned.
Monetary reward is playing too large a part in food production these days and no company is prepared to take a precautionary approach. It is assumed to be safe unless it can be proved within all reasonable doubt to be harmful. That proof can take twenty or thirty years to materialise.
A study carried out recently has found that the mineral content of many of our vegetables is anything up to 30% lower than it was 30 years ago when the last study was done. This is mainly due to the fact that modern intensive agriculture strips the soil of its nutrients then artificially puts back just a selected few. Organically grown veg fared rather better but was still lower than thirty years ago. Our bodies rely on those minerals to help us combat the other "nasties" that are added to our food. At a Pesticides Residues Committee conference I attended last year the question was asked "Each individual chemical has its "safe" limits but what work has been done on the cocktail of "safe" limits that we ingest daily?" The answer was "None whatsoever!! "
As far as cloning, GM and all similar technologies are concerned human being are getting too clever for their own good. Selective breeding is one thing but playing about with the building blocks themselves in the laboratory - effectively playing God - leaves far too much to chance. The Western World, forced to eat a diet of manipulated food is extremely unhealthy with food allergies, food intolerance, diabetes, arthritis, asthma, eczma, all escalating. It has been shown so many times that when people suffering such complaints get back to a diet of unadulterated food their symptoms diminish and often disappear completely.
This is why I am against such processes - until such time as it can be proved conclusively that it cannot have any adverse affect whatsoever on anybody.

Posted 8/10/10 - While UK residents may already be picking up milk from cloned cows at the grocer, things in the states haven't moved quite as swiftly, according to reports from the Organic Consumers Association.

Company Wants to Sell Untested Milk From Cloned Cows

Along with this news don't forget to check out CyClone Dairy
MILK FROM CLONED COWS ‘ON SALE IN UK’
British shoppers could be unwittingly buying milk from the calves of cloned cows

Monday August 2,2010
By Daily Express Reporter

BRITISH shoppers could be unwittingly buying milk from the calves of cloned cows, it was claimed last night.

It follows revelations from a dairy farmer who blew the whistle on the ­illegal practice. He said the milk is being sold in high street shops and its source ­is ­unidentified – leaving consumers in the dark about what they are drinking.

Last night the Food Standards Agency said it was launching an investigation. It said it believed the sale of milk from cloned cows and their calves was ­illegal.

European experts have not identified a food safety risk associated with ­cloning.

But some campaigners claim it could allow new diseases to pass from farm animals to humans. Research has also identified serious concerns for the health and well-being of animals produced as a result of cloning, with evidence of premature births, deformities and early death.

Supporters of cloned meat say that it could produce super-sized, disease-resistant animals with leaner meat and higher milk yields.

However, a survey by the UK Food Standard Agency in 2008 found most consumers do not want food from cloned animals on supermarket shelves.

The first calf grown from an embryo taken from a cloned cow was born on a British farm in 2007. The calf, named Dundee Paradise, was born near Wolverhampton after being created by ­scientists in the US.

Details of the latest claims, which were printed in a US paper, suggested that the British dairy farmer had admitted using milk from a cow bred from a clone as part of his daily production.

An FSA spokesman said: “Since 2007 the FSA interpretation of the law has been that meat and products from clones and their offspring are ‘novel’ foods and would therefore need to be authorised before being placed on the market.

“As the UK authority responsible for accepting novel food applications, the agency has not received any applications relating to cloning and no authorisations have been made.”
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/190642/Milk-from-cloned-cows-on-sale-in-UK-Milk-from-cloned-cows-on-sale-in-UK-

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