Food safety protesters cry over cloned milk and meat

Once again there were protesters dressed as cows capering around for the cameras. The occasion was the publication of the European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA) opinion on cloning.

EFSA declared that it was "very unlikely" that meat or milk derived from the offspring of cloned cows was unsafe. A few days later the US Food and Drug Administration reached a similar conclusion. The news immediately prompted comparisons with the debate over genetically modified (GM) foods. But the debate over cloning is unlikely to be a simple re-run of the GM debate.

Back then industry enthused about the benefits. But opponents called for measures to control the technology, fearing that GM crops could damage the environment and jeopardise human health. A political backlash followed. In 1998 the EU imposed a moratorium on authorisations of new GM crops and products and restrictions on imports of GM products remain.

Farming groups say the whole food business misjudged its response to the new GM technologies. Roxanne Fellner, a senior policy adviser at Copa-Cogeca, the European farmers’ federation, says: "Everyone in the food chain got it totally wrong. The consumer was told too late and it was taken for granted that they didn’t want to know." Fellner thinks it is too soon to say whether food derived from cloned offspring is "good" or "bad" and says that the industry must wait and see the results of public consultation.

Colleagues further up the food-industry chain agree. "We have learnt our lessons from GM…we know consumers do not show a preference for these products," says one industry insider.

Some scientists think cloning could offer benefits to consumers, such as leaner cuts of meat or food with added nutritional benefits. Beate Kettlietz, director of food policy, science research and development at CIAA, the Confederation of Food and Drink Industries in the EU, asks: "Why not have nutritional benefits in future, if they are labelled and proven to be beneficial?" But she adds that the industry is not considering using these products at the moment and is still in the early stages of discussing the technology.

Cloned meat and milk look unlikely to reach European plates anytime soon. Although scientists may think cloned animal products are good enough to eat, ethical experts have doubts. On 17 January the European Group on Ethics in Science and Technologies said that it did not see "convincing arguments to justify the production of food from clones and their offspring" and cited concerns about animal welfare. The European Commission will publish its opinion in May after public consultation.

While the food industry and regulators mull over cloned foods, there are plenty of unresolved problems with GM foods. Most pressingly, the EU has to decide what to do about its ban on GM-imports, which has fallen foul of WTO rules and threatens to spark a trade war with America. Despite the moratorium, GM crops could find their way through a chink in the wall. Kettlietz says that cross-fertilisation from GM to non-GM crops could cause modified foods to enter the European food chain via American imports: "We have clear definitions of what we can import and what we cannot. Despite all the efforts you make to keep identity and preservation, a tiny amount [of GM crops] could enter the raw material."

Once again there were protesters dressed as cows capering around for the cameras. The occasion was the publication of the European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA) opinion on cloning.