Reaction rolling in on cloned food

And it didn't take long. From Rep. Rosa DeLauro:

Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (Conn. -3) issued the following statement on the announcement from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to lift the voluntary moratorium on introducing food products from cloned animals. Additionally, since the FDA has no plans to distinguished cloned products, DeLauro has introduced the Cloned Food Labeling Act, which would require the FDA and the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to mandate that all food derived from cloned animals be labeled.
“Despite the lack of scientific data on the safety of food from cloned animals, the FDA is moving forward anyway to allow food products from cloned animals to enter the marketplace. This action defies the American public and Congress.
“In releasing its final risk assessment on cloned foods and lifting the voluntary moratorium, the FDA is ignoring the 30,000 comments the agency received from the scientific, economic and public health communities that urged a more cautious approach. The agency also is ignoring language in the recently enacted omnibus appropriations bill that strongly urges the FDA to examine the issue more closely before making a final decision.
“The studies on which the FDA is basing its assessment include very little information on the specific question of whether food from cloned animals is safe. Instead, the agency refers to studies on various topics such as methods of cloning, growth rates and animal behavior – all of which are not directly related to food consumption.
“Clearly the agency has not learned the lessons from the past few years of the dangers posed by products that were approved hastily. The FDA has decided to continue the alarming trend of acting on behalf of political and corporate interests at the expense of improving food safety and the public health.”

A different take from Sen. Tom Harkin

Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, today issued the following statement on the safety of food from cloned animals. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a risk assessment, a risk management plan and guidance for industry on the issue that state foods from healthy cloned cattle, swine, and goats and their offspring is safe for humans.
“FDA appears to have done its work to assess the food safety and consumer safety issues. The agency has evaluated this new practice on its scientific merits, but outside ramifications such as impact on trade are still unknown.
“The federal government is moving cautiously with this new technology, and for good reason. We need time to truly evaluate how food from cloned animals will impact trade to minimize any negative impacts on our domestic and foreign markets.”

From Farm Bureau's Bob Stallman:

Farm Bureau applauds today’s release by the Food and Drug Administration of the final risk assessment that meat and milk from cloned animals and their offspring are safe to eat.

“FDA has determined that no special labeling or other measures are needed, because food derived from these animals is no different from food from conventionally bred animals. We support that determination, which is based on FDA’s extensive analysis of the technology and hundreds of independent studies. The technology will be used mainly for breeding purposes, and we expect very little food from cloned cattle, swine and goats to enter the marketplace.

“Cloning technology will give farmers and ranchers an additional production option. It has gone through the appropriate regulatory review process and has been found to be safe; therefore, farmers should have the option of using it. The technology will improve breeding stock and, eventually, the quality, safety and healthfulness of our food. Animal cloning offers great benefits for consumers and farmers.”