Beef from a second bull bred from a clone has illegally entered the human food chain and has been eaten in the last few months, safety officials have disclosed.Tampering with genetics ignites the fears and passions of many. But is this opposition justified?
Hugh Pennington, emeritus professor of microbiology at the University of Aberdeen, said meat and milk from cloned cows posed no health risks. "It is perfectly safe," he said. "They are just the same as their parents from the genetic point of view so there's no problem there."Alright, I concede that one line from one story is hardly enough to conclude that cloned meat is safe. But considering the genetic variation already in our diet -- from non-genetic minerals and vitamins to plants, fungi, and a wide assort of animals -- I do wonder wonder what all the fuss about genetically modified food is about. What's a handful of mutations from cloning or genetic modification really going to hurt? All naturally born life forms come into this world with a few genetic mutations and an entirely unique genome. We're not going to ban the consumption of any individual plant or animal due to the unknown side effects of consuming its unverified genome, right? So why doesn't that principle apply to cloned or modified organisms?
But understandably at least, many people are skeptical, afraid, and hostile. Whatever. So how does this conflict with animal ethics?
