Press release
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Cloned animals in food
Full ban on cloning in food approved by MEPs
The European Parliament's environment and food safety and agriculture committees today voted on draft EU legislation on the cloning of animals. The Greens welcomed the vote, which would introduce a comprehensive ban on cloning, and on the placing on the market of food from clones and their descendants, as well as strengthening the legal base. After the vote, Green food safety spokesperson Bart Staes said:
"MEPs have today voted for robust EU rules to address the very serious concerns with cloning and the use of clones and their descendants in food production. The committee voted to significantly strengthen the draft law proposed by the EU Commission upgrading the proposed provisional moratorium to an outright ban and, crucially, ensuring it applies not just to food from clones but also from their descendants, which is where the real threat lies.
"The vote would also upgrade the proposal from a directive to a regulation, which would mean it would have to be uniformly and directly applied across all EU member states. To ensure the rules can be properly enforced, MEPs also voted to introduce provisions on the traceability of these foods."
Green agriculture spokesperson José Bové said:
"Clone food brings significant concerns, with impacts in areas such as livestock management and food security, but also in terms of genetic diversity or animal welfare.
It would be totally irresponsible to ignore these and continue with the attitude of blind faith in competitiveness and patent-based inventions as the only solutions for adapting to farming’s future challenges.
MEPs voted today to address these concerns with the seriousness they deserve. We hope that this proposal will get wide support when the European Parliament votes in plenary."
