Americans will soon have meat from cloned animals on their plates. Should we expect the same thing in Europe and in France?
A priori yes. AFSSA's report in 2005, as well as that of EFSA (the European agency), most recently (see box), concluded that the consumption of these animals did not pose more risks for humans.
But regardless of the location of these acts, because for me it still poses some "small" problems in the long term:
a) the impact on consumer health (obviously everyone thinks of this first) namely that the cells of a clone are the age of its "model".
I don't believe Science has explained and understood this yet ...
b) if the practice becomes widespread: decline and loss of genetic diversity which makes the survival force of a species, therefore fragility of the clones which could all be exterminated at the slightest benign contagious disease!
c) Correlation of b) increase doses of chemical "additives" (medicine, antibiotics, etc.) to compensate for failing immune systems... with the risks that this entails for the consumer of course!
d) Selection (natural) by humans and therefore eventually extermination of "natural" species but not productive enough! Even if the selection has been done for 100 years (maybe even more), there we crossed a threshold ... There was not a "biodiversity" section during the Grenelle?
I am surprised that no specialists speak of these drifts and are content with point a). The points b) and d) are much more awkward ... but the specialists know what they're doing huh ...
The biology specialties (ex-ocean?) Will no doubt have other fears, I stopped bio in 3rd ... so it made a yawning!
In any case the debate is launched!
Sources on human food and animal cloning
