ViaGen in the News
Cloning: Myths and Facts
By Rod Smith, Feedstuffs
June 4, 2006
Consumers encounter a lot of myths about cloning, but the facts show that it’s a safe and useful technology.
CLONING is admittedly controversial but is so due in large part to how people have little understanding of what it is, how it’s done and if it’s useful, according to ViaGen president Dr. Mark Walton.
Firing up the controversy is the problem that those people who seek a better understanding of the technology usually encounter more myths than facts, he said during an interview at the company’s headquarters in Austin, Texas.
Last in a series
In the past three issues, Feedstuffs FoodLink has sought to point readers toward those facts based on the interview with Walton and his staff. The last part of this series presents some of the major myths and ViaGen’s response to them.
In some cases, the information will have been covered in the series, but in most cases, it will be new information or will provide additional insight.
ViaGen is the leading livestock cloning company in the U.S.
Healthy and normal
Myth: Clones are different from “normal” animals.
ViaGen: Cloning does not change DNA, and clones are not genetically modified animals; cloning is not genetic engineering. A cloned animal is genetically identical to its donor and is like a twin but one born at a later time.
Myth: Cloning is radically changing the way animals are bred.
ViaGen: Cloning is a form of assisted reproduction just like artificial insemination, embryo transfer and in vitro fertilization, which are long-established means of animal reproduction. About 90% of the dairy herd in the U.S. is a consequence of artificial insemination, and nearly 50% of the beef breeding herd is produced through assisted reproduction technologies.
Myth: Cloning is not beneficial.
ViaGen: Cloning greatly expands the reproductive potential of the best-performing and healthiest animals, allowing breeders to more rapidly and reliably spread superior genetics throughout their herds to keep up with demand for superior cattle, hogs and other animals.
This can be especially important for producers in developing regions of the world to increase meat and milk production without needing expensive drugs and growth promotants.
Leading conservation groups are investing in cloning research to save endangered species.
Myth: Cloning will lead to herds of identical animals and decrease genetic diversity.
ViaGen: Animal breeders will not replace conventional reproduction with cloning but will use cloning as an additional reproduction tool to reproduce superior genetics as discussed above.
Furthermore, cloning actually can help preserve genetic diversity by enabling producers to reintroduce the genetics of outstanding animals that have been castrated, are aged beyond their breeding years, are sick or otherwise unable to reproduce.
Myth: Cloning is inefficient.
ViaGen: Embryos are lost in any form of reproduction, including conventional sexual reproduction, and in the hands of skilled practitioners, cloning success approaches that of other forms of assisted reproduction.
Although critics of the technology claim only 1% of attempts result in live births, peer-reviewed literature shows that 40% of eggs reach the blastocyst stage (early-stage embryo), and 10-15% of those embryos then become live births.
Some cell lines clone more successfully than others and actually rival natural reproduction.
Myth: Clones are not healthy.
ViaGen: The vast majority of clones live to a healthy, viable adulthood. The National Academy of Sciences has determined that “the health and well-being of clones approximate” that of naturally born animals. As cloning specialists learn more about cloning, health outcomes are improving.
Myth: Dolly’s death was cloning related.
ViaGen: Dolly — a sheep and the first cloned mammal — contracted a contagious and fatal respiratory disease likely from non-cloned sheep in her flock with whom she was housed and was euthanized in 2003 to prevent her suffering.
Safe and normal
Myth: People soon will be consuming meat and milk from clones.
ViaGen: Clones are very expensive (ViaGen charges $15,000 for the first copy of a bovine and $5,000 for the first copy of a porcine) and represent extremely valuable breeding stock; accordingly, they will be used for breeding, not commercial meat and milk production. Clones will be bred conventionally, and meat and milk for human use will come from those offspring.
Even so, there will be an infinitesimal number of clones versus commercial animals. To the point, there are about 600 clones in the U.S. today, most of which are show animals, while there are approximately 100 million beef and dairy cattle in the cattle herd and 61 million head in the swine herd.
Myth: Meat and milk from clones is not safe.
ViaGen: The Food & Drug Administration conducted one of the most exhaustive food safety studies ever run and concluded last year (Feedstuffs, Jan. 1) that “the current weight of evidence” indicates that the consumption of meat and milk from clones of cattle, hogs, goats or sheep or their offspring does not pose “a greater risk” than consumption of meat or milk from non-clones.
The National Academy of Sciences, in two reviews in 2002 and 2004, reached similar conclusions.
ViaGen’s responses are available in more detail and with links to sites where there is additional documentation at www.clonesafety.org in the “News Releases” section by clicking on the Dec. 28, 2006, release, “ViaGen Statement.”
Other information is available at the site in the “All About Cloning” section by clicking on “Fact Sheets” and “FAQ.”
FYI
FDA accepted public comment on its conclusion and draft risk assessment through May 3 and is now reviewing that input. The agency is expected to issue its final rule by the end of this year.
Here’s the point
CLONING is an incredibly promising technology. It promises better animals for food production and other performance that in turn promises better food; it promises healthier and stronger animals for natural and organic producers; it promises countries in developing regions opportunities to expand animal herds and food production, and it promises a less intrusive environmental footprint.
Cloning is not a risk to animals, and food from clones and their offspring is safe.
Opponents’ claims and the myths surrounding the technology simply do not stand up.
Certainly, cloning will be but one of several means of reproduction, but it will be an important one for many reasons. Producers, processors and foodservice and supermarket managers need to make sure consumers are confident in that, which they can do by finding out and relating the facts about cloning technology and referring consumers to www.FeedstuffsFoodLink.com.