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Can Food From Cloned Animals Be Called Organic?

Posted on: Monday, 29 January 2007, 15:00 CST

by injecting the DNA from the skin cell directly into the egg cell, for example

Other detailed exclusions in the organic rule fall similarly short of being slam dunk rejections of clones, several experts agree. That leaves opponents of organic clones falling back on some of the rule's more general language, such as the part that says an organic animal's growth and development must not be influenced by means "that are not considered compatible with organic production."

That language is sweeping, given the fuzziness of ideas about what "organic" means.

"For me," said Pouillon, "organic food means that everything goes through a sort of organic, natural process."

"Organic farmers work in harmony with nature, not to change it," echoed George Siemon, chief executive of Organic Valley, a farmers cooperative based in LaFarge, Wis.

But biotech industry leaders scoff at such language. If organic is so natural, they ask, why is it that the USDA allows organic cows to be conceived by in vitro fertilization and artificial insemination? If that is okay, why not cloning?

To which Pouillon responds dryly: "At least they still use sperm and an egg."

Even if the "naturalness" of various reproductive technologies remains open to debate, other principles are clearly central to the organic movement and leave the USDA no choice but to exclude clones, said Michael Sligh, a program director with the Rural Advancement Foundation International in Pittsboro, N.C.

"One of the principles of organic production is to encourage biodiversity," said Sligh, who was on the committee that drafted the organic rule in 2000. Without a doubt, Sligh said, the mass production of genetically identical critters runs counter to that.

Biotech officials counter that clones are unlikely to make up even 5 percent of the U.S. herd a decade from now, so they will have minimal impact on overall biodiversity.

But despite their belief that they ought to have access to the lucrative organic market, these companies may well decide that it is not worth going to the mat on this issue. And a decision to surrender might make a lot of sense, according to people who follow the debate.

After all, the FDA is still considering whether to insist that meat and milk from clones be labeled as such. The industry strongly opposes such a requirement because of fears that consumers -- who according to polls are not exactly salivating over the prospect of eating food from clones -- might interpret a "Made From Clones" label as a sort of health warning.

If "organic" were allowed to mean, among other things, that the food is not from cloned animals, the biotech industry can say to the FDA that explicit clone labels are not necessary because consumers already have a way to make choices.

"It allows them to say, 'If consumers want to avoid it, they can go organic,' " said Mendelson of the Center for Food Safety.

Ultimately it will be up to the USDA to decide whether a clone can be organic, based on advice from the agency's National Organic Standards Board. The board's next meeting is scheduled for March. An agenda has not yet been finalized.

Reported By TechNews.com, http://www.TechNews.com

(20070129/WIRES /)

Source: Newsbytes

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