stlbites.com – st. louis food blog of bill burge

Attack of the Clones

Jan 16, 2008 farming, sustainable agriculture

With an obvious but unavoidable subject line we found out yesterday the USDA has deemed cloned meat A-OK.

Whether you are for or against it the debate is sure to become heated, and although you won’t have to worry about eating it personally for several years, I considered writing a lengthy post explicitly stating my stance.

I have, however, found a more direct approach by offering you a quote from Bruce Knight, Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs with the USDA.

But first how about a snippet from his USDA bio?

A third-generation rancher and farmer and lifelong conservationist, Mr. Knight grew up on a small farm near the Gann Valley, S.D., where he owns a diversified grain and cattle operation using no-till and rest rotation grazing systems. His ranching background gave him the opportunity to practice stewardship and husbandry and provided firsthand knowledge of the interdependency of animal, plant and human health.

And the quote:

“Many farmers and ranchers are already using other assisted reproductive technologies, such as artificial insemination, embryo transplant, and in-vitro fertilization to produce superior animals…Cloning is another breeding technology that has evolved and has now been demonstrated to be safe.”

So the question, Mr. Knight, is with all that “husbandry and…firsthand knowledge of the interdependency of animal, plant and human health,” how much technology does sex really need?

Tags: cloning, USDA