Cloning!!

[horsegal5]

Was just reading this in the news, and thought it was important enough to post.

I personally would not want to eat a cloned animal, I just don't think cloning is right.

But I think what really bothered me about this article is that they are considering not labeling this food as cloned meat... :new_let_it_all_out: thats just not right, I should have a choice on whether I want to eat this or not, and if its not labeled, than I don't know

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Anyway here is the article , I would like to know how you all feel about this?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061228/ts_nm/cloning_food_dc

 

[Mona]

If it's cloned, it should be the same thing, so yes, if the original version was good enough for me to eat, I would not have any problem with eating a cloned version of the same.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

So long as the animal is well raised, well kept and dispatched with dignity I have no interest in how it was conceived- AI or cloning, what is thew difference??

I would have thought that cloning was a dead end as far as economical food production but maybe not.

I have far more interest in the animals welfare than it's breeding (or not) habits.

I actually see the way forward as not keeping whole animals- why can we not grow slabs of beef in culture??

Why can we not grow organs in the same way??

That surely is a better way forwards.

Speaking as someone who cannot afford to buy meat on a regular basis I would go for ANYTHING that was cheap and humane.

But is HAS to be humane, I would rather eat meat once a week and know my conscience is clear than every day and know I was condemning an animal to a life of misery.

 

[strass]

I weigh 275 lbs. I didn't get this big by eating fruits and veggies. My own family won't invite me to trips in the mountains because they're afraid of what will happen if we get lost for a few hours.

:

Will I eat clone beef?

[SIZE=12pt]Yoouuuuu betcha'.[/SIZE]

why can we not grow slabs of beef in culture??

This really isn't far fetched. It can be done. It's just no where near economical to do so yet. The way that we keep overbreeding humans and paving farm and ranch land...we'll probably eat some lab-slab someday.

 

[Bluebell]

Nope. Not if it was had a label stating i knew it was. We raise our own beef so buy very little anyway. Science has so many other important issues to be tackling and spending our money on i would think!

 

[Pepipony]

Cloning for food doesnt faze me in the slightest. And like Strass said, with the way we are over breeding our own selves, forcing everything else to the edge, there will come a day when we eat lab grown food anyhow. I do however feel that the packaging does need to state that it is cloned food.

 

[MiniHoofBeats]

The way that we keep overbreeding humans and paving farm and ranch land...we'll probably eat some lab-slab someday.

ABSOLUTELY!

I am a smaller person but believe me, if I see any form of meat grilled, roasted, broiled, fried, wrapped in bacon, whatever...GET OUTTA MY WAY!!!!

 

[Irish Hills Farm]

God no, I don't want to eat cloned meat. Before you know it, they will genetically alter the meat some how to make it better for us. And I feel that it is absolutely WRONG not to state on the package if the meat is cloned or natural. Guess another one of my choices in life is being taken away from me.

Leave my dead cow alone.

 

[Just Us N Texas]

It is not genetically altered in any way. Just a carbon copy of another. Why not?

 

[sfmini]

Sure would, but one question, how can this be cost effective? Seems like the old fashioned way is cheaper...

 

[Sterling]

I heard somewhere on the news yesterday as I was puttering around the house that cloned critters are not as healthy and have "issues" that their counterpart cloner does'nt. That's why they don't live as long. She mentioned eating this cloned meat may open up new issues in the future...that they just were'nt sure of yet.

Me personally...if I knew it was cloned I would'nt eat it.....but I am very picky when it comes to meat too.

 

[HGFarm]

If the cloned animals are exactly the same as the 'real thing' then why do they have a VERY short life span and are dying at extremely young ages? How do WE know that it is genetically the same?!! Obviously, there is SOMEthing wrong for them all to die soon.

Me? No way. I want the real thing and do not believe in fooling Mother Nature!!

 

[Warpony]

I view this as different from the genetic altering they do. I don't want to eat anything that has had it's genes spliced in from some other creature because that just scares me. I do my best to grow my own heirloom veggies and such in order to avoid it...

Cloning I'm not so sure of though. It is a genetic copy, not a manipulation in any way... but it seems like too much fooling with mother nature so I'm uncomfortable with it.

...but the chances of me eating it are slim because of how I buy my meat. I ONLY buy locally raised and processed meats from people I know, so I can be sure the animals lived and died as humanely as possible. I doubt Mr. Edwards up the road will be cloning any time soon.

If they could "grow meat", though... as Rabbitsfizz mentioned... I MIGHT go for that. I have no problem eating meat, but if I could get meat without having to be concerned about how humanely the animal was handled I'd like that.

If the cloned animals are exactly the same as the 'real thing' then why do they have a VERY short life span and are dying at extremely young ages? How do WE know that it is genetically the same?!! Obviously, there is SOMEthing wrong for them all to die soon.

Me? No way. I want the real thing and do not believe in fooling Mother Nature!!

actually, that is something of a misconception because of the way things happened with Dolly, the sheep that was first cloned. Many of the animals they are cloning now seem to be just fine and are growing to be healthy and have normal life spans/age at normal rates.

 

[lvponies]

Bring it on...... No problem with cloned beaf here!!

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[coopermini]

There is no way to identify cloned animals from there donor. They are genetically the same nothing more. People have been eating meat from embryo transplants for years. Not that thats where the embryo transplants were bred for but thats where they end up eventually.

As far as cloned did anyone pay attention to the fact there are currently only 600 animals total! Cloning is not commercially or economically viable as the costs are outragous! Embryo transplants are expensive enough and that is not always a success.

The main reason to allow cloned animals in the food chain is there is nothing different in them and no way to test for anything different. There is no sceintific method to identify cloned meat.

Would I eat cloned meat You Bet! Do I have a better chance of having Ed McMann waiting at my front door with a $10,000,000.00 check than getting a peice of cloned meat at the store? You Bet!

Mark

 

[Buckskin gal]

I am with you Sterling...not enough is known about the cloned meat for me to eat it! There is a reason these cloned animals aren't as healthy or live as long as the natural animal, we just don't know yet what it is and what it could do to us humans. The thought is revolting to me.

: Mary

I heard somewhere on the news yesterday as I was puttering around the house that cloned critters are not as healthy and have "issues" that their counterpart cloner does'nt. That's why they don't live as long. She mentioned eating this cloned meat may open up new issues in the future...that they just were'nt sure of yet.

Me personally...if I knew it was cloned I would'nt eat it.....but I am very picky when it comes to meat too.

 

[Jenn]

Only if it was delicious .... :cheeky-smiley-006:

But I personally go into our corrals and pick the most delicious-looking calf to eat each year. I'm just evil like that.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

Dolly the sheep lived a normal life span- there was a lot of publicity about how she had arthritis and did not live a normal life span.

The USUAL life span for a meat animal is around ten months so we tend to forget this- even if they are dual purpose meat and wool or breeding and wool they are rarely around for more than a few years.

Dolly lived to eight which is way beyond the accepted life span of her breed.

How many crippled sheep do you see hobbling around the pastures every year??

They are rarely treated- they get better or they are euthanized, this is the only economical thing to do, I understand that.

What I am saying is meat animals have a much shorter life span than their predecessors.

Sad but true.

And Yes I know of pet sheep that have lived to ten, even fifteen years old.

They are often from more "ancient" breeds- for example it would not be unusual for a Jacobs or a Shetland sheep- and they are exceptions.

So I do not actually think there was anything wrong with Dolly, I think the public at large just aren't aware of the problems with domestic animals- only a problem of courts when you try to keep them alive beyond their "sell by" date.

Jenn, I am with you- Carnivores of the world unite!!!

As long as you have the guts to kill your own food you have the right to eat it- and, of course, these animals have a life ten times better than the stuff you buy in the supermarkets.

I do not eat veal, though- I hate the way it is usually produced.

What does "normally" raised calf meat taste like??

 

[Bess Kelly]

Personally, I see no reason for them not living the "normal life span" of their genetic contributors. And, as others have said, at this point it is NOT economically profitable.

For my own concern, the hormones they implant into most of the USA beef at feed lots are not preferred and some of the things they are FED would turn your stomach!! True, their digestive systems turn the "feeds" into other products but there are things that they consume that we would feel better to have been incinerated. While I do eat meat, I have never been a consumer of lots of it -- but, for years I raised our own beef as much for knowing how they were fed as having great steaks for far less cost.

Yes, I'd eat it -- but, don't feel there's any chance of having any on the market shelves.

 

[Lewella]

There is no way to identify cloned animals from there donor.

Visually sometimes you can. Uterine environment can effect both the placement and extent of white markings in both cattle and horses.

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Smart Little Lena clones -

http://www.nature.com/news/2006/060529/fig...606-605_F1.html

Royal Blue Boon and her clone pictures:

http://www.viagen.com/benefits/success-sto...s-and-breeders/

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5504640

The Scamper clone also has different markings than the original.

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So genetically, no difference but there can be some differences visually from the orginal.

I'd eat cloned meat. :bgrin