Safety of Cloned Livestock Debated

(CNSNews.com) - Claiming that cloned livestock are good for the food supply in the United States, biotechnology firms are hailing the Food and Drug Administration's tentative decision to classify meat and milk from cloned animals as indistinguishable from current supplies. But consumer and animal "rights" activists are strongly opposed to the move.

"Cloning is simply a powerful new tool in the animal breeder's toolkit," said Mark Walton, president of the animal cloning firm ViaGen. He called the FDA's risk assessment "one of the most exhaustive food safety studies ever conducted."

Walton said cloned animals would make up a small proportion of the overall livestock numbers.