Dear Member,
Are you eating cloned meat? You probably don’t know. It’s becoming common practice, but the FDA doesn’t require labeling of cloned meat.
Birth defects in clones are quite common. Cloning has been found to produce unhealthy animals who suffer tremendously. Clones often die young, suffer birth defects, and commonly need antibiotics. 1
The Center for Food Safety says that as many as 50% of cow clones have what’s called “Large Offspring Syndrome.” Symptoms include unusually high birth weight that endangers the mother, and a long list of organ and systemic abnormalities, including heart problems and immature lung development. 2
The report also states that there is evidence that clones are not always exact duplicates of their gene donors.3 Clearly, cloning remains an unpredictable science.
And cloning scientists have warned that even small imbalances in these clones could result in hidden food safety problems in the cloned meat.4 A recent study found differences in the composition of the milk and meat of cloned animals. 5
But here’s what’s even more worrisome, the nation’s major cattle cloning companies admit that they have not been able to keep track of how many offspring of clones have entered the food supply. 6
So there’s no way of knowing if you are buying cloned meat or not. I don’t know about you, but I consider this extremely deceptive. We should have the right to choose, especially when it comes to what we eat.
It’s sad to think that the FDA approved cloned livestock food without completely knowing all of the risks involved. But they don’t exactly have a good track record…just look at all the drug recalls they’ve made over the last decade.
The whole idea of cloned meat is frightening if you ask me. That’s another reason why I choose grass-fed beef. I don’t have to worry about whether or not I am eating some science experiment developed in a test tube.
So when choosing meat for your next meal, consider the following two options.
• Cattle raised as nature intended – in an open field free to roam and feast on their natural diet of grass
Or
• Something developed in a scientific experiment that has not been properly researched, not to mention fed an unnatural diet of grain and given massive doses of antibiotics.
This should be an easy one, correct? Choose the grass-fed beef, of course. At least you’ll know exactly what you are getting – something that’s healthy and nutritious with no hidden food safety issues. It’s hormone-free, antibiotic-free, has no preservatives, and has a healthy ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 fats.
I get my grass-fed meats at U.S. Wellness Meats at www.grasslandbeef.com. They ship it right to your door packed in dry ice.
So you can enjoy a nice juicy grass-fed burger or steak any time – clone free and worry free!
To Your Good Health,
Al Sears MD
1. Wells DN. 2005. Animal cloning: problems and prospects. Rev Sci Tech 24: 251-264
2. Center for Food Safety. Not Ready For Prime Time – FDA’s Flawed Approach To Assessing The Safety of Food From Animal Clones, 3/07
3. Geir Tveit & Peter Sandøe, “The Science and Technology of Farm Animal Cloning: A review of the state of the art of the science, the technology, the problems and the possibilities.” Danish Centre for Bioethics and Risk Assessment, p. 24, 2005.
4. National Academy of Sciences. Safety of Genetically Engineered Foods: Approaches to Assessing Unintended Health Effects. p. 222-228, 2004
5. Walsh MK, Lucey JA, Govindasamy-Lucey S, Pace MM, and MD Bishop. 2003. Comparison of milk produced by cows cloned by nuclear transfer with milk from non-cloned cows. Cloning Stem Cells 5: 213-219
6. Gianni K, FDA Says Cloned Meat Safe to Eat but Could It Already Be in Our Food, www.naturalnews.com, 2/21/08