http://asia.news.yahoo.com/030414/kyodo/d7qd7la00.html 
Monday April 14, 17:08 PM 

Group opposes possible sale of meat from cloned animals

A citizens group working against genetically  modified  organisms
(GMOs)  urged  the health ministry Monday to ban the retailing of
meat and milk of cows cloned from  the  somatic  cells  of  adult
animals.  

In  a written request submitted to the Health,  Labor and Welfare
Ministry,  the Tokyo-based group "NO!  GMO Campaign"  said  there
are  numerous safety concerns related to products for consumption
from such cloned cows,  citing the  high  mortality  and  disease
rates of clones.  

The  group's  request comes in response to a recent report from a
health ministry study group which said  meat  and  milk  products
from cows cloned from the somatic cells of adult animals are safe
for human consumption.  

However, the group said cows cloned from somatic cells are highly
likely to die soon, often just after birth.  The group said there
is also a high likelihood that cloned cows will become sick.  

The  group  said that no one would be convinced it is safe to eat
products from cloned cows if such abnormalities continue,  and it
warned that promptly allowing the products for public consumption
would provoke consumer protests.  

The  health  ministry  report,  which  apparently  increases  the
likelihood of retailing of beef and milk of  cloned  cows,  said,
"No  abnormalities  were  seen  in the components of the meat and
milk,  and it is difficult to conceive of any factor  that  would
undermine the safety of the products." 

Shipments  of  beef  from  cows  cloned  from  somatic  cells are
currently withheld  by  producers  because  of  the  agricultural
ministry's request for "voluntary" restraint.  

Under the cloning technique, which was used in Britain to produce
Dolly the sheep in 1996,  the cows are cloned by transferring the
nuclei of cells from adult animals into ova from which the nuclei
have been removed.  

No other country allows the consumption of meat or milk from cows
cloned from the cells of adult animals due to the  high  rate  of
defects in the clones.  

http://www.no-gmo.org/index.html 
E-Mail: no-gmo@jca.apc.org