Cloned Meat

[hatman]

Food for thought:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/23/opinion/23wed4.html?ref=opinion

This article doesn;t mention it, but part of the FDA ruling states that cloned meat does not need to be labelled as such... so the consumer doesn't even have a choice. Unless you get your meat from your friendly neighborhood farmer, whom you trust... while the G-Men allow you to do that.

 

[justme]

I hope more and more people realize what this could mean to our food supply. WIth cloning you are only one or two viruses away from starvation. You are also relying on a much smaller market to supply all your food, thereby allowing them to control the pricing, quality and delivery of your food.

Thanks for bringing this up for discussion hatman.

 

[hatman]

But, you also realize that they have engineered, and the FDA has approved the use of, viruses that can be applied to meat to protect against spoilage... and the food companies don't even have to label the products that have had these viruses applied?

 

[Oorang]

Mmmy cloned-irradiated-virus-burgers. Just like Mom used to make.

 

[hatman]

Oh, and don't forget that they are working on Vat Grown meat too. And the way the FDA is going, if the final product is functionally interchangeabel with it's natural counterpart, then the manufacturer doesn't need to label it as artificial, vat-grown, cloned, irradiated or coated with anti-bacterial viruses.

 

[SydneyGeek]

I'm wondering about the long-term benefits of doing this, and I don't think there are any. A couple of thoughts:
1. Monsanto did the same thing a while back with disease-resistant crops. Trouble is, you had to buy your seed from Monsanto every year because it was engineered not to reproduce. And it wasn't cheap.
2. As justme mentioned, you're setting yourself up for a disaster if a disease sweeps through the herd. Same thing happens at the moment with cereal crops, which are basically monocultures. A big risk with increasing pressure on food resources.
3. And there are other ways to breed animals with desired traits. The closest to a production line at the moment is artificial insemination, which achieves much the same result as cloning without the side-effects of cloning (like premature ageing and arthritis -- remember Dolly the sheep? She was born with a cellular age the same as her parent).

Maybe economics and common sense will get in the way of stupidity.

As for the virus-treated meat to reduce spoilage, I gather that the viruses used are bacteriophages. They are specific for the bacteria they they infect and kill, and in fact they are used as an alternative to antibiotics in parts of Eastern Europe. But see the last paragraph of the article I referenced -- you have to be careful that they don't get out of hand.

And the tissue culture meat? Maybe we'll have to go that way one day, if we run out of room to run livestock, but I like to know what I am being served.

Denis