FDA set to OK cloned meat

PHILADELPHIA, Jun 23, 2005 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- A U.S. government investigation into meat and milk from cloned animals has concluded that such products are safe for human consumption.

The Food and Drug Administration analyzed the biochemical composition of meat and milk from cloned animals and their offspring and found it was the same as that from conventional animals, the Financial Times reported Thursday.

One senior FDA biotechnology adviser, at a Philadelphia biotechnology conference, said Wednesday that although cloned animals were more likely to suffer birth defects and health problems when very young, after about 50 days old they were as healthy as animals conceived naturally.

Much of the data for the assessment came from two U.S. companies, ViaGen and Cyagra, which have together produced several hundred cloned pigs and head of cattle.

In practice, most meat and milk would not come from clones themselves, which would be used to improve the agricultural gene pool, but from their progeny, an FDA official said.