There has been lots of talk about animal cloning over the past few years, but how do you weed out the facts from the fiction? The following resources will explore animal cloning in more depth, from consumer acceptance to safety information.

What is Animal Cloning?

Animal cloning is a modern breeding method that allows farmers to retain desirable traits in animals —such as quantity and quality of meat or milk or disease resistance—by producing an identical twin of the animal. This breeding technique does not change the genetic makeup of the animal, meaning clones do not have any new traits added to them.  It is simply assisted reproduction. The FDA analyzed more than 100 peer-reviewed scientific studies on animal cloning to prepare their draft risk assessment statement that determined foods from cloned animals are safe to eat.

More General and Safety Information:

• International Food Information Council’s Questions and Answers about Food Biotechnology
• U.S. Food and Drug Administration Cloning "Myths"
• U.S. Food and Drug Administration Draft Risk Assessment
• U.S.Food and Drug Administration Center for Veterinary Medicine
• Universityof California, Davis: Animal Biotechnology and Cloning Q&A

What does the general public think of animal cloning?

According to International Food Information Council’s “Food Biotechnology: A Study of U.S. Consumer Trends, 2007 Report”, overall favorable perceptions of animal biotechnology are on the rise with 24% of polled U.S. consumers viewing the technology as favorable in 2007 compared to 19% in 2006.   An increase in the number of consumers who perceive cloning as “somewhat favorable” pushed overall favorability to 22%, its highest levels since 2004, with 28% remaining neutral.  Just two years ago, 36% of consumers said they would be “somewhat” or “very” likely to buy food derived from cloned animals if the U.S. FDA determined them to be safe. Now, in 2007, this number has risen to 46%.   As to the offspring of cloned animals, 49% of consumers say they are “somewhat” or “very” likely to purchase products from the offspring of cloned animals compared to 41% in 2006, if the FDA determined them to be safe.  Thus, two trends emerge.  First, consumers are softening their views towards animal cloning.  And second, the importance of safety determinations from the FDA cannot be underestimated with respect to consumer acceptance of animal cloning.  Finally, for both plant and animal biotechnology, including cloning, increased consumer awareness correlates with greater favorability suggesting the need for continued educational outreach. 

Full IFIC Food Biotechnology Research Report:

http://www.ific.org/research/biotechres.cfm