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Introduction
Every day people consume meat as food, and no individuals wonder if they eat organic beef, pork, lamb, mutton, chicken, or their cloned counterparts. This question arouses genuine interest, because citizens are mainly unaware of such a type of food for consumption. It should be noted that cloned animals, or clones, appear as a result of asexual reproduction of animals, using somatic cell nuclear transfer (Lee et al., 2012, p. 389). Cattle began to be cloned as early as in 1998, and farm animals are regarded to be used for cloning more often nowadays. Campbell (2016) claims that cloning is a very specialized technique which is performed in a small number of centers worldwide (p. 4). In the centers cloning functions as a commercial method of animals reproduction, which allows cloned animals and their products to be used in the food chain in the country or abroad. Consumption of such novel food opens realistic possibilities for the population, whereas proposals to forbid cloning farm animals are associated with economic, social, and environmental problems.
Problems about Eating Cloned Animals
The 1990s saw the rise in development of cloned animals in Europe, and among striking examples were the sheep Dolly and bull Herman. Although a significant number of innovations in terms of cloning are implemented in European institutions, a great number of activities take place in the Far East, North America, Australia, and New Zealand (Mora et al., 2012, p. 2). In this regard there is no international register of cloned animals, so it is difficult to estimate the number of living clones (Lee et al., 2012, p. 390). On the one hand, cloned animals may be produced for personal purpose like reproduction of a favorite animal, and creation of a successful competitive counterpart. Moreover, species conservation, which implies cloning endangered breeds, serves for a good cause. On the other hand, cloned animals are produced for subsequent meat consumption, which provokes controversy. In this respect food safety is the population’s major concern because of lame information about cloned animals (Lee et al., 2012, p. 389). In addition, cloned animals can be found in the food supply chain through imports from overseas (Mora et al., 2012, p. 2), which may pose economic, social, and environmental effects.
Economic Effects
The economic effect of eating cloned animals is associated with peculiarities of the market where the novel food can appear. Meat can be farmed for human consumption in large quantities, which posits benefits in case of growth rates superior to noncloned counterparts. According to Mora et al. (2012), cost reducing, quantity enhancing, and quality enhancing are primarily broad categories which produce significant economic effects (p. 4). Improving milk composition as well as meat quality serves as examples of such economic benefits. Therefore, cloning food-producing animals is economically beneficial.
Despite the evident economic effect in terms of meat consumption, current cloning techniques are likely to bring about welfare problems. The cloning process is associated with health risks to animals involved, and a high rate of health problems in cloned animals proves to be dangerous for people. Campbell (2016) also refers to the initial debate within the European Union about “the possible health effects on man of eating cloned animals and their products” (p. 1). Conversely, Lee et al. (2012) allude to the investigation that the risks decrease with age, and six months later clones appear to be “normal and healthy as determined by physiological measurements, behavior, and veterinary examinations” (p. 391).
Social Effects
Introduction of cloned animals in food chains relates to public and producers acceptance to public policies, which indicates social problems of eating novel food. As regards public concerns, they largely correlate with issues of food safety, unnaturalness, and animal health (Mora et al., 2012, p. 7). The social concerns originate from the lack of knowledge on the effects of cloning. According to Lee et al. (2012), the public do not quite understand cloning (p. 393), and Campbell (2016) supports this view by asserting that for some consumers it is unethical to eat cloned produce even if it is safe (p. 2). As a result, people refuse to buy milk or meat from clones regardless of trusted sources which claim the safety of such products.
On the other hand, producers acceptance plays a huge role, since producers’ wish or reluctance to adopt the new technology of cloning may bring about differing results. Among their major concerns are the following: increased dependency on suppliers, expectations of higher prices, uncertainty of the outcomes as well as public acceptance (Mora et al., 2012, p. 8). Additionally, cloned animals and noncloned animals are difficult to differentiate if no traceability system on the part of producers is employed. In this case they need to contain “product information for the right to know in label” (Lee et al., 2012, p. 393).
Environmental Effects
Effects on the environment can be unpredictable, especially when there are violations of technological processes. Lee et al. (2012) ascertain that “every step in the procedure may present its own challenges” (p. 390). Also, biological and physical containment measures may address environmental concerns (Mora et al., 2012, p. 4), and this issue arises from the fact that specific facilities are costly in terms of construction and operation. As a result, high environmental concerns may require the adoption of physical containment strategies, which may potentially limit the economic attractiveness of cloned animals (Mora et al., 2012, p. 10).
The animal feed and environment have an impact on the composition of milk and meat. Consequently, humans who eat clones may consume decreased rates of vitamins and minerals. In order to prevent that, unhealthy clones should not enter the food chain by being removed at clinical inspections and quality controls (Lee et al., 2012, p. 392). It is also vital for producers to label cloned meat in order to inform consumers about what they eat (Campbell, 2016, p. 2).
Conclusion
Eating cloned meat and products is a disputable issue both for the population and producers. Although cloning may be associated with a method of preserving rare genetic material and promoting biodiversity (Campbell, 2016, p. 2), its consequences in terms of consuming clones generate economic, social, and environmental problems. Firstly, cloning food-producing animals is economically beneficial, but it is associated with health risks to animals involved. Secondly, public and producers acceptance arises from the population’s lack of knowledge on the effects of cloning and absence of traceability system from producers. Thirdly, unpredictable effects on the ecology can relate to violations of technological processes as well as biological and physical containment measures, in addition to the impact of the animal feed and environment. Cloning animals for food consumption is a comparatively new technology, so it proves to be technically inefficient, and it requires constant development and improvement. In this regard the number of clones is supposed to increase when cloning of animals is universally approved for commercial food purposes. Unquestionably, novel food must meet regulatory requirements in order to be lawfully marketed (Lee et al., 2012, p. 393). Furthermore, it is necessary that the government promote the policy on cloned animals. In this regard biopharming is likely to function as the next stage of development, since it is characterized by higher safety, increased saturated capacity, lower costs, and easier distribution (Mora et al., 2012, p. 6).
References
Campbell, M. L. H. (2016). Is cloning horses ethical? Equine Veterinary Education, 28(6), 1-6. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/eve.12566
Lee, S., Jang, Y., Kim, H., Lee, M., So, B., Yang, B., & Choe, N. (2012). Foods derived from cloned animals and management policies in worldwide. Korean Journal for Food Science of Animal Resources. 32(4), 389-395. http://dx.doi.org/10.5851/kosfa.2012.32.4.389
Mora, C., Menozzi D., Aramyan L. H., Valeeva, N. I., Reddy, P., & Zimmermann, K. L. (2012, June 4-5). Genetically modified animals in the food and pharmaceutical chains: economics, public perception and policy implications. Proceedings from the 1st AIEAA Conference ‘Towards a Sustainable Bio-economy: Economic Issues and Policy Challenges’. Trento, Italy. Retrieved from http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/bitstream/124121/2/Mora%20et%20al_Genetically%20modified%20animals%20in%20the%20food%20and%20pharmaceutical%20chains.pdf
