Study finds cloned meat and milk identical to normal

[Joe]

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20050411/D89DEC9O0.html

WASHINGTON (AP) - Meat and milk from cloned animals is essentially identical to that from animals that reproduced normally, a new study says.

The findings should ease safety concerns by both the public and regulators about eating cloned animals, said researcher Xiangzhong Yang of the Center for Regenerative Biology at the University of Connecticut. The study was published in Tuesday's issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The Food and Drug Administration has asked the food industry to keep products from cloned animals out of the food chain while it considers their safety.

Cloning, the creation of an animal from the DNA of a single parent, should produce an animal identical to that parent. But as the technology has developed, many cloning attempts have ended in birth defects.

"All parameters examined for the clones in this study were within the normal range of beef and dairy products approved for human consumption," Yang said in a telephone interview.

Two beef clones were studied that had been produced in Japan from a famous Japanese Black breeding bull with superior meat marbling traits.

The 10 dairy clones were produced at the University of Connecticut from a Holstein cow that produced a lot of milk.

The researchers from Connecticut and the Kagoshima Prefectural Cattle Breeding Institute in Japan analyzed milk for a variety of factors including protein, fat, lactose and solids and studied more than 100 components in the beef, concluding that both were within the range of standards for milk and meat now consumed.

The FDA declined to comment on the findings but said it will include the report in the material it is reviewing on food from cloned animals. The agency said it expects its own safety assessment of these products to be released soon.

Asked for comment, Carole Tucker Foreman of the consumer group Public Citizen questioned whether the researchers had looked at the problem of stress in the animals.

Stressed animals are known to produce pathogens, she said, and there has been evidence that the offspring of cloned animals suffer increased stress. She said this study seems to avoid that question.

She also questioned whether the researchers, who specialize in reproductive biology, were a truly disinterested source of information, and suggested that the small number of animals in the study might not be enough to produce definitive data.

The study compared meat from two bulls and milk from four cows with the products from similar animals that had been produced by normal methods and raised in similar conditions to the clones.

The meat from the clones had a slightly higher marbling content than that of the comparison animals but that was the only significant difference, the researchers said.

Increased marbling is considered a benefit in beef and the researchers noted that the clones were produced from an animal renowned for its quality. The comparison animals were produced by inseminating cows with semen from the son of that bull, meaning that the offspring had only one-fourth the genes of their champion, while the clones had all of them.

No other significant differences were found in the meat or the milk.

The research was funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Kagoshima Prefecture and the National Institute of Agrobiological Research of Japan.

That's one small step towards silencing the idiocy of the Frankenfoods crowd forever.

[aerius]

I wonder how long it'll be until a cannibal clones himself for food. He could literally eat himself over & over again. I'm sorry, did I just ruin your appetite?

[Enforcer Talen]

I dont eat meat anyway, so Im fine.

faux flesh, here we come. eating vatgrown steak without guilt

[Queeb Salaron]

I dont eat meat anyway, so Im fine.

faux flesh, here we come. eating vatgrown steak without guilt

MEAT IS MURD... er... SCIENCE!!

[Darth Wong]

What's the benefit of cloned animals? You still have to raise and feed them just like any other animal, right? So the only benefit would appear to be that you don't have to use biological breeding, and I've never gotten the impression that it was particularly difficult to get stud animals to perform.

[Master of Ossus]

What's the benefit of cloned animals? You still have to raise and feed them just like any other animal, right? So the only benefit would appear to be that you don't have to use biological breeding, and I've never gotten the impression that it was particularly difficult to get stud animals to perform.

I guess it might be an advantage if you had a once-in-a-lifetime animal which was really better than all other animals of the same species. I wouldn't mind having a clone of Secretariat in my stables, for example, though not for the eating.

[Wicked Pilot]

So the only benefit would appear to be that you don't have to use biological breeding, and I've never gotten the impression that it was particularly difficult to get stud animals to perform.

It is my understanding that very few cows are produced the old fashioned way. Most of the livestock is created from a handful of prize bulls, whose sperm is saved, frozen, and shipped all over the country to different ranches for quite a high price. So in effect ranchers are already cloning on the male side of the genetic fence. One male stud could father thousands of money making beef cakes, but one female stud can only carry so many in her lifetime. These cloning techniques would simply cover both sides of the reproductive equation.

[Queeb Salaron]

What's the benefit of cloned animals? You still have to raise and feed them just like any other animal, right? So the only benefit would appear to be that you don't have to use biological breeding, and I've never gotten the impression that it was particularly difficult to get stud animals to perform.

No, but good stud animals are rather rare, and good ones are expensive. With that in mind, there are several advantages to cloning:

1) Cloned studs can be sold
2) 3 cloned studs + cow population = 3x birthrate = 3x meat/milk producers
3) Increased supply, decreased demand, decreased price = cheaper meat

I just don't know how cost-effective that would be. The only advantage I can see is introducing multiple studs into a fixed cow population.

[Darth Wong]

What about the increased incidence of health problems associated with cloning? I would think that should wipe out any cost savings associated with eliminating the need for stud animals and breeding programs.

Unless, of course, they have solved that problem, but I haven't heard anything about that.

[SirNitram]

While a promising suggestion(If these clones are producing food within the standards of human consumption, the cloning errors must be getting less severe), I honestly don't see a logical use for this. Until we develop accelerated growth tanks, then bring on the Beef Vats!

[His Divine Shadow]

I guess it might be an advantage if you had a once-in-a-lifetime animal which was really better than all other animals of the same species. I wouldn't mind having a clone of Secretariat in my stables, for example, though not for the eating.

You bloody pervert

[Avalon616]

I dont eat meat anyway, so Im fine.

faux flesh, here we come. eating vatgrown steak without guilt

MEAT IS MURD... er... SCIENCE!!

*sings*
do you know how animals die ?
kitchen aromas aren't very homely
it's not "comforting", "cheery" or "kind"
it's sizzling blood and the unholy stench
of MURD... *interrupts Morrisey*
"whisper whisper whisper..." ... *pause*
"It's SCIENCE?!?!"

[Plekhanov]

That's one small step towards silencing the idiocy of the Frankenfoods crowd forever.

I doubt it and aside from the fact that some people are never convinced no matter how overwhelming the evidence (just look at MMR in the UK)

The study compared meat from two bulls and milk from four cows with the products from similar animals that had been produced by normal methods and raised in similar conditions to the clones.

Isn't a survey only involving 6 (12 if you include the controls) animals rather small, plenty of people are gonna want to see longer term, larger scale studies before they are convinced.

The meat from the clones had a slightly higher marbling content than that of the comparison animals but that was the only significant difference, the researchers said.

Increased marbling is considered a benefit in beef and the researchers noted that the clones were produced from an animal renowned for its quality. The comparison animals were produced by inseminating cows with semen from the son of that bull, meaning that the offspring had only one-fourth the genes of their champion, while the clones had all of them.

I don’t think this invalidates the study but why didn’t they use sperm from the cloned bull rather than it’s son?

[Setzer]

I'm shocked. Exact duplicates of food taste like the original. /SARCASM

[Solauren]

I think the eventually goal is indeed beef vats/artificial cloning chambers were a particularly good cow/bull is cloned, but just the needed parts.

Same idea as organ replacement cloning, except instead, you're cloning the leg to become a nice steak

[Admiral Valdemar]

There are still problems with the cloning process that Dolly highlighted. The somatic cells used to form the new fertilised egg for the surrogate mother will have telomere lengths that will correspond to the age of the donor organism, hence, Dolly died mainly through premature ageing. While she was technically younger than her mother for obvious reasons, she had inherited her age related degeneration and so her cells were already aged. Curiously, Dolly was euthanised due to other problems that weren't so much related to her telomere length (which I believe was longer than expected).

Until such problems are rectified, clones will inevitably be somewhat prone to organ failure earlier than those created sexually. This may not matter as much with animals bred for meat or milk, depending on how economical it is given cloning costs quite a bit, is very tricky to do and if your livestock last only a couple of years, they're pretty useless.

The other problem is the whole reason evolution gave us sexual over asexual reproduction. If your entire farm is genetically identical and you get Foot and Mouth in that area, your whole stock is literally dead meat. Such a disease is devastating against normal herds, letalone ones identical to eachother.

[Molyneux]

I dont eat meat anyway, so Im fine.

faux flesh, here we come. eating vatgrown steak without guilt

Not tofu...NEW-fu!
Seriously though, check out a good Chinese vegetarian restaurant. They can do things with fake meat that will make your tongue sit up and beg...

[SyntaxVorlon]

What's the benefit of cloned animals? You still have to raise and feed them just like any other animal, right? So the only benefit would appear to be that you don't have to use biological breeding, and I've never gotten the impression that it was particularly difficult to get stud animals to perform.

Fuck, solauren beat me to it.
Well, just imagine meat grown simply to be eaten and not an entire animal. Removes the annoying breeding process, the slaughtering process, and the feeding and raising processes. You could remove the green house gas production plants that are the huge numbers of cattle we already have. Hell, if we did this the US might fit with the Kyoto protocols.

[Admiral Valdemar]

We could have spherical cows, or better yet, cube shaped ones that are easy to stack!

[Uraniun235]

I can just imagine a truckfull of sphere-cows tipping over, releasing a dozen cowballs rolling across a highway.

[Aaron]

So could you clone a cow that produces milk with no lactose enzime so that those of us who are lactose intolerant don't have to run to the shitter all the time?

[Admiral Valdemar]

So could you clone a cow that produces milk with no lactose enzime so that those of us who are lactose intolerant don't have to run to the shitter all the time?

It's certainly possible, say, replacing that chemical with another like maltose or sucrose, but I doubt many would bother with the process although I have heard it does exist somewhere. Incidentally, lactose is a sugar, the reason humans are generally intolerant of it is believed to be because it comes down to infants halting breast feeding as they lose the ability to metabolise it and go on to proper food.

[His Divine Shadow]

It's certainly possible, say, replacing that chemical with another like maltose or sucrose, but I doubt many would bother with the process although I have heard it does exist somewhere. Incidentally, lactose is a sugar, the reason humans are generally intolerant of it is believed to be because it comes down to infants halting breast feeding as they lose the ability to metabolise it and go on to proper food.

I never knew that, lactose intolerance is a rarity as far as I know.

[Jawawithagun]

What's the benefit of cloned animals?

Uniformity I guess. A cloned herd gives you a uniform base for all your stock and with that and controlled conditions they can be grown to exactly the same size, with exactly the same fat depth, the same meat quality etc. No more runts in the litter, you can produce exactly to the customer's requirements. And uniform animals make automated processing easier as a much lower variety has to be accounted for.

[Elheru Aran]

It's certainly possible, say, replacing that chemical with another like maltose or sucrose, but I doubt many would bother with the process although I have heard it does exist somewhere. Incidentally, lactose is a sugar, the reason humans are generally intolerant of it is believed to be because it comes down to infants halting breast feeding as they lose the ability to metabolise it and go on to proper food.

I never knew that, lactose intolerance is a rarity as far as I know.

My stomach, grandmother, and cousins would disagree...