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.”

Safeway and sustainability

Sustainability is the hot new trend for 2008, and major players are getting into the act. Safeway is planning a press event Thursday at store on 14th and Kentucky in Washington, D.C. that will mark the conversion of Safeway's truck fleet to biodiesel. The event is just prior to the beginning of the Grocery Manufacturers Association's two day "Sustainability Summit, " according to notice from GMA. The event will also feature a tour of the Lifestyle store, highlighting energy efficient light and refrigeration.

"Food safety issues have been resolved"

From today's stop and start teleconference, food from cloned animals is as safe as any other food, the FDA says. The FDA also said it will also not require labeling for food from cloned animals, despite consumer reservations about the technology. However, the FDA and USDA said it wants a voluntary industry led moratorium on "cloned" beef and milk distributed in the market place to continue for an indefinite period, a transition time to the commercialization of the technology. Only a few hundred cloned animals exist now.

Even more than irradiation, I think, cloned food faces some uphill battles in terms of consumer acceptance. I can't see why irradiated fruits and vegetables, as it stands now, require a radura, while cloned milk or meat apparently will not require any special labeling.

FDA briefing

David Acheson, assistant commissioner of the Food Protection for the FDA, spoke to Farm Bureau delegates yesterday. Someone asked about the FDA's position on the safety of food from animal clones, but he said he could speak about that yet, but news would be coming from the agency soon. Soon happens to be today; there is a media briefing at 11 a.m. today concerning the agency's final cloning risk assessment on food from animal clones.

Acheson had a powerpoint presentation that I will publish here later that reviewed some of the challenges the FDA faced in the past couple of years and how the Food Protection Plan seeks to answer those challenges. After the session, I asked Acheson questions about the produce industry traceability initiative and what his thoughts were about the idea of user fees versus license fees for food marketers. More coming... .

Back from New Orleans

Flew back from New Orleans last night. Some more impressions from the 89th annual convention of the Farm Bureau:

* I asked Bob Stallman what he meant when he said that Farm Bureau "needed to hear" the message that Acting Secretary Chuck Conner delivered. He responded that Farm Bureau members needed to hear for themselves what the Administration's policy is (veto threat if bill contains budget gimmicks and tax increases), not that Conner's message will change Farm Bureau's position. In effect, Stallman said Congress and the Administration fund what they want to fund. The real gimmicks and games are going on between Republicans and Democrats, and what farmers want is a farm bill. This sets up a couple of very interesting months on Capitol Hill. President Bush's veto threat is credible, but it anguished Acting Secretary Chuck Conner to deliver it.

* A session on climate change and agriculture revealed that some farmers do not buy into the idea of global warming and climate change. What Farm Bureau wants, Stallman said, is to have any legislation and outcomes to do no harm to the farming community. California's mandates on climate change could have a huge impact on growers starting in 2012. More on that later....