Fact Sheet on Cloning Animals for Food:
Animal welfare and the FDA risk assessment
Cloning is a highly inefficient, experimental, and unpredictable technology that presents serious threats to animal health and welfare.
- On average, 96-99% of cloning attempts fail; hundreds of animals suffer in the process of creating just one healthy clone.
- The vast majority of cloned fetuses develop abnormally and die in the womb, often jeopardizing the health of the surrogate mothers.
- The few clones that survive birth often die shortly thereafter from any of a number of serious physical or physiological defects, including abnormally large bodies, compromised immune systems, and malformed organs.
In the article describing its draft risk assessment, the FDA compares cloning to assisted reproductive technologies,
grossly mischaracterizing the animal health risks caused by cloning by obscuring the tremendous increase in frequency with
which these risks occur.
- For example, 85-90% of natural pregnancies are carried to term, but in one published study, only 11% of clone pregnancies resulted in a birth, with 18% of the offspring dying during the birth.
- Approximately 24-36% of the cloned animals who survive birth die within 6 months, compared to approximately 5% of artificially inseminated or naturally bred animals, despite access to extensive veterinary care and numerous different medical interventions, including surgery.
- Hydrallantois, a typically fatal condition in which the pregnant animal swells with fluid to the point of looking like she
is about to burst was found to occur in 14-24% of clone pregnancies, but never in pregnancies produced through artificial insemination or natural breeding.
- In one published study, 54% of surrogate mothers of cloned fetuses required a cesarean section for delivery, whereas less
than 1% of artificially inseminated females required such intervention.
- In that same study, 75% of cloned animals required antibiotics.
The FDA's proposed risk management plan is entirely too vague to sufficiently address the serious risks that cloning poses
to animal health and welfare.
There needs to be a public discussion, both within Congress and Health and Human Services, about animal welfare and the
ethics of animal cloning before the FDA allows cloned animals on the market.
- A 2002 Gallup poll found that 64% of Americans think that animal cloning is "morally wrong."
- A 2005 survey conducted for the International Food Information Council found that 63% of Americans would not buy cloned
food even if it were labeled as "safe."
- A 2005 survey sponsored by the Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology reported that 63% of American consumers want the
federal government to factor ethical considerations into the decision on animal cloning.
For more information, click on the links below:
Overview
Frequently Asked Questions
Fact Sheet
Point/Counterpoint
News
Additional Resources
Media Kit
AAVS Petitions FDA to Regulate Cloned Animals
Take Action to End Animal Cloning!
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