West MEP welcomes ban on Frankenstein animals

10.09.00am BST (GMT +0100) Thu 4th Sep 2008

Graham Watson, Liberal Democrat MEP for the South West and Gibraltar has welcomed the overwhelming vote in the European Parliament for a ban the cloning of animals for food in the EU and an embargo on imports of such animals or meat or diary products from them. This follows a report from the European Food Safety Authority

Graham said:

"On animal welfare and ethical grounds, and taking a precautionary approach regarding human health, it is right to outlaw these Frankenstein animals for food production. Consistently with the approach in other aspects of genetics, for instance stem cell research not being prejudiced by bans on growing of GM crops, research which may assist in disease prevention or cure will not be affected."

"While no products from cloned cattle, pigs, sheep or goats are currently on sale anywhere in the world, a decision earlier this year by the US Food and Drug Administration claiming that meat and milk from cloned animals are as safe as traditionally bred animals sounds a warning bell. Soon the EU could find itself under pressure to accept cloned-animal imports without even labelling of their origin, in a re-run of the history with GM food."