Clone debate
June 22, 2009
German daily Frankfurter Allgemeinen Zeitung (FAZ) newspaper reported that the European Union is also changing tack on the matter and now wants to clear the way for the sale of meat and milk from the direct descendants of cloned animals.
The FAZ quoted an official from Brussels as saying a new approach to the matter was necessary to avoid a "regulatory gap" on the future sale and consumption of meat from cloned animals' offspring.
The EU is now expected to move ahead with formulating new regulations on cloned meat, and also on foods altered with nanotechnology, FAZ said.
A European Commission working group for ethical science and new technologies had found that there were no convincing arguments for using meat from cloned animals or their offspring.
The German Farmers Association has been the strongest voice against cloned meat from within the country, influencing Berlin's prior stance against it.
The German government has said in the past that cloned meat would not be sold in supermarkets.
The subject of cloned meat is expected to come up at a meeting Monday of European Union agriculture ministers.
dfm/dpa/AFP
Editor: Trinity Hartman