how safe is cloned meat?

amazed

How safe is cloned meat?NURRIS ISHAK

Cloning a single cow can cost up to RM65,560, so it is primarily used for breeding. Chances are the products will come from their offspring.

The latest declaration by the European Union抯 food agency that dairy and meat products from cloned animals are safe for human consumption has brought the touchy topic to light once again, writes NURRIS ISHAK.

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SO they say it is safe.

But if you found that the steak on your plate and that glass of milk are from a cloned animal, would you eat that juicy red steak and drink the milk? Recently, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) 梩he European Union抯 food safety agency 梡ublished a draft opinion which gave the greenlight for consumption of cloned animal products.

Despite having limited data, the report declared that meat and milk obtained from healthy cattle and pig clones and their offsprings are within the normal range with respect to the composition and nutritional value of similar products obtained from conventionally- bred animals.

揑n view of these findings, assuming that unhealthy clones are prevented from entering the food chain as is the case with conventionally- bred animals, it is very unlikely that any difference exists in terms of food safety,

Sasori

eeeeeeee sedap ker

Nazrulism

[fly][/fly]

Mengikut Teori Hayfiick, Setiap sel kehidupan ada life-span limit, Sel Biri-biri dikenalpasti mempunyai limit hayat selama 12 tahun. Dalam kes Dolly, Sel yang digunakan adalah sel dari biri-biri berusia 6 tahun. Kerana itu Dolly mati  di usia 6 tahun.
    Kalau teori ini betul.. Daging dan susu dari klon ini adalah daging dan susu sel-sel tua !! (luput tarikh)

MUJUR Saintis belum tahu Life-span limit SEL MANUSIA

Tapi ikut rekod.. Ada manusia yang hidup lebih daripada 130 tahun. Maka jagalah sel-sel kita kerana kita dikelilingi pelbagai punca yang merosakkan sel-sel agar kita dapat mencecah 130 tahun.

amazed

Cloning can be an alternative to conservation, says biotech chief

Do we know what we are buying? Meat sold at the supermarkets should be labelled if it is from a cloned animal.

ANIMAL cloning should be viewed with an open mind, particularly in the light of new scientific evidence and the needs of a country, said Malaysian Biotechnology Information Centre (MABIC) executive director Mahaletchumy Arujanan.

What抯 the beef? Can we assume that what we buy is safe for consumption?

Whatever the choice may be, she said, cloning does have its benefits. Cloning technology could provide an alternative solution for conservation and save threatened species, while organs could be produced from stem cells.


"Though much research is still needed to make this technology perfect, theoretically it looks feasible. Thus, this technology should not be killed in the cradle," she said.

"The benefits of cloning are not fully established yet. There are other technology breakthroughs which can address current issues like producing higher-yielding varieties and disease-resistant animals, for example.

"Nevertheless, research in this area should be encouraged because there are benefits in the area of health and medicine."

Given the current social and global climate, cloning can come in handy. Ecological disruptions are most likely to happen due to impacts on climate change.

Livestock breeds are under stress and cattle breeds resistant to diseases are dwindling, especially in developing countries in Africa. The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) estimates that nearly 1,500, or 30 per cent, of livestock breeds are threatened with extinction, most of which are in developing countries.

Cloning technology could also provide an alternative solution for conservation, as endangered species could be cloned to ensure the survival of their species.

But animal cloning is not without its dangers, as the European Ethics in Science and New Technologies pointed out.

According to its press release published on its website, the group expressed doubts as to whether cloning animals for food supply is ethically justified, considering the current level of suffering and health problems of surrogate dams and animal clones.

"Whether this applies also to progeny is open to further scientific research," it stated.

Surrogate carrying cloned embryos and the clones themselves can experience a high rate of disease and other health problems that include increased weight, malformations, respiratory problems, enlarged livers, haemorrhaging and kidney abnormalities.

In cattle, the group's statement said about 20 per cent of cloned calves did not survive the first 24 hours after birth and that the additional 15 per cent died before weaning.

CLONING Q & A:

YES. There are no reasons to believe that meat or milk from cloned animals are unsafe to eat. Studies have shown no meaningful differences except, perhaps, in the right direction. Beef from cloned cattle, for example, shows better marbling of fat and lean -- a desirable feature -- because the clones were made from prize animals that themselves had this quality.

Why should anyone want to do it?

Cloning is a way of duplicating the best animals. It is expensive, so meat or milk from these animals will not be sold as food. But they will be used as parents of the next generation, improving the quality of herds.

Isn't there a risk of deformities in cloning?

There is. Cloned animals tend to be large at birth, and some suffer genetic changes. But those that are fit and normal do not appear to differ in any important way from conventional animals.

So what's the problem?

Food safety scares are often a proxy for other, less easily voiced, concerns. Many people find the idea of cloning distasteful, and worry about animal welfare implications. To them these products are distasteful on moral rather than food safety grounds.

Isn't the answer simply to labelsuch food?

That's probably a sound idea, even if hard to implement in practice. What happens five generations down the line, when the clone is a distant ancestor of the beef we are eating or the milk we are drinking? Is it still cloned? And how could the system be policed, given that there are no identifiable differences that could be used to check suppliers' claims?

How soon will cloned food come our way?

Novel foods -- of which this would be one -- have to get the Health Ministry's approval before they can be marketed here. No applications for marketing cloned foods have been made, so for the moment they could not be sold.

But if it's identical, how would we know we aren't already eating it?

Good question. Some websites in the US already offer semen from cloned bulls, so presumably cloned bulls have already sired offspring that have sold for beef in the US

amazed

Biak baka lembu, Boer
Oleh Mohd Roji Abdullah


KLUANG: Kementerian Pertanian dan Industri Asas Tani menggunakan kepakaran Afrika Selatan untuk membantu memperhebatkan pembiakan baka lembu dan kambing Boer yang kini menjadi projek ternakan nasional dalam usaha meningkatkan pengeluaran daging negara.

Menterinya, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, berkata teknologi pembiakan paling canggih di dunia akan digunakan pakar dari Persatuan Penternak Kambing Boer Afrika Selatan itu untuk menjalankan projek di Pusat Embrio Haiwan Nasional (NAEC) di Stesen Mardi, di sini.

Beliau berkata, dengan kepakaran serta penggunaan teknologi terkini, pengeluaran baka lembu dan kambing boer dari NAEC dijangka dapat memenuhi permintaan untuk projek ternakan berskala besar di seluruh negara.

揔etika ini populasi haiwan ternakan di negara kita iaitu lembu dan kambing hanya berjumlah 750,000 ekor dan kita mensasarkan peningkatan kepada 1.5 juta menjelang 2010.


揝aya yakin projek di NAEC ini mampu meningkatkan kuantiti serta kualiti haiwan ternakan khususnya kambing boer bagi memenuhi permintaan daging tempatan,