The Secretaries of Agriculture of the European Union member states adopted their proposal to the revised version of the Novel Food regulation on their council meeting on 22 June 2009. This is to be valid in the future also for food such as meat or milk, which comes from descendants of cloned animals. These might be marketed, as soon as they are certified as Novel Food. The Ministers rejected a marking of the food of animals, which were fed with genetic engineering. Now the European parliament must advise again over the regulation.
The Secretaries of Agriculture justified their procedure with the clone meat with a right gap: Food, which comes directly from cloned animals, bräuchten a permission after the genetic engineering right, in order to be allowed to be marketed in the European Union. Practically this no role plays, since the aufwändige cloning only for breeding animals one practices. On the market however soon products of the descendants of such cloned breeding animals urge could. Because in the USA clone meat is in the meantime approved. These food would be subject not to the genetic engineering right, might be marketed at present thus without editions.
The European parliament suggested with the first reading of the Novel Food regulation in March 2009 therefore forbidding food of cloned animals and their descendants in its own regulation. Up to then a moratorium should be valid for food, which is made of cloned animals and their descendants. The Secretaries of Agriculture wiped this proposal likewise from the table like most different that approximately 90 changes and additions, which the parliament suggested. Among them also a regulation, all products of animals, was which were fed with genetic engineering to mark. Now the parliament in second reading must be concerned with the regulation.
The Secretaries of Agriculture requested the commission to submit specific legislation over all aspects of the cloning methods and mentioned thereby particularly also commercialreferred aspects. In the plain language is called: The Ministers want neither a moratorium still another prohibition of clone meat, because they fear commercial problems with the USA. Therefore the food of the clone descendants is to be treated at least according to the Novel Food rules. A permission can hardly be prevented thereby, because is examined thereby only security for the consumer. The European food authority EFSA came however already to the result that such food was safe.
At the cloning above all the suffering of the animals is criticized. Only five per cent of all clone attempts are successful – most in such a way born animals are ill and suffer pain, argue Bärbel Höhn, vice-chairperson of a parliamentary group of the Bundestag Greens. Also the cloning of high-performances animal would continue to industrialize the agriculture and would endanger the variety of types in the stables still more strongly.