Is cloned meat coming to Maine? (buy, live, price)

[Elcarim]

Will it be labeled appropriately, or are they really just going to try and sneak it in on the unsuspecting public. Not being regular meat eaters, this applies somewhat less to my family than it does to some of yours, but I have my concerns, nonetheless. What's your take?

Cloned Animals Are Safe to Eat, FDA Says - AOL Body

[Zymer]

There is no difference between meat from cloned animals and meat from birthed animals. This is a non-issue.

If I were going to worry about my meat, it would be about the stores using chemicals to make it *look* better/fresher than it really is.

[Elcarim]

That is one of the many reasons we don't eat meat. Until we have a good source of fresh, non-altered and drugged meat, it's just out of our diet. I did see on a commercial yesterday that Tyson is using antibiotic free chicken now. Too bad there's still probably the growth hormones, the chemical doctoring during processing, etc.

[Zymer]

Originally Posted by Elcarim

That is one of the many reasons we don't eat meat. Until we have a good source of fresh, non-altered and drugged meat, it's just out of our diet. I did see on a commercial yesterday that Tyson is using antibiotic free chicken now. Too bad there's still probably the growth hormones, the chemical doctoring during processing, etc.

Growth hormones and antibiotics don't worry me- stores using chlorine to keep it looking good when it is really past its prime do.

[Abbymoulton]

Originally Posted by Zymer

There is no difference between meat from cloned animals and meat from birthed animals. This is a non-issue.

If I were going to worry about my meat, it would be about the stores using chemicals to make it *look* better/fresher than it really is.

I am in agreement with that. The stores that are selling the meats have some practices that are very questionable. From bleaching fish,etc. to grinding old out of date meats into hamburger and giving it another week to sell. "NOT a pleasent thing". I have worked in several and refused to do this.....alas, I no longer work in that field.

[Maine Writer]

With all due respect, non-issue my backside. Up on the soapbox.

Why do we need cloned meat? We don't have a meat shortage. When we can slaughter hundreds of thousands of animals a year and throw their meat away because they've been carelessly processed and contaminated with e-coli, we can do better.

Why do we need meat to be more expensive than it already is? Do you have any idea how expensive it is to successfully produce one cloned animal that doesn't die of causes that can't be determined? Five figures, per animal.

Why do we need to pad pockets of a few people with all of this expensive meat when we don't need it?

The USDA can't be trusted with the meat we have now. Do you really trust it to control this? Let's adequately take care of e-coli, factory farming, downer animals, artificial hormones (not needed), antibiotics (shouldn't be needed).

This was brought up on the food forum. Here's my input from last night.

Originally Posted by Maine Writer

Super weeds and pests develop as pests become pesticide resistant. They then require a stronger pesticides, and the cycle continues. How does genetic engineering make food bigger? Or cheaper? The cost increases from the start of the production process. Farmers pay a fee for every bag of GE seeds they buy. Seed can't be saved so the cost is perpetual.

Negatives in cloning animals -
It's expensive. As someone else mentioned, it's more expensive that probably any of us can afford. With a success rate of 3% or less a lot of money goes into the tiny percentage of animals that are conceived.

Many offspring die before birth. Those that survive are prone to enlarged organs and die young. If an animal isn't healthy enough to sustain itself is it something you want to eat? We can buy plenty of meat from unhealthy animals for a lot less money already.

Cloned animals have a higher rate of cancer, tumors and infection. Is that something we're willing to eat? Remember, the USDA hasn't been able to control downer cows from going into our food chain. What's a little cancer or pus? The USDA also allowed chicken litter - wood shavings, manure, feathers - to be fed to beef cattle. We can't depend on the USDA to keep cloned animal meat any safer than they keep other meat.

The FDA's own vet medicine panel says there are too many uncertainties to call cloned animal products safe. Our government doesn't agree on the safety issue.

Back to Large Offspring Syndrome - if an animal can't give birth naturally should we be promoting it as breeding quality? LOS causes a high percentage of c-sections. The offspring that survive often have abnormally large hearts that can't support their bodies. They die. Those that survive are prone to enlarged tongues and deformed faces that make it difficult for them to eat. They're prone to diseases such as diabetes and immune deficiencies. Can we as taxpayers afford to support something so flawed and inefficient?

There are a lot more problems involved in cloning. We don't need it. We have no shortage of meat. I don't see what real purpose cloning serves other than to make a few people very wealthy creating meat most people can't afford.

An endangered breed of either sheep or goat was being cloned at one time. I don't know if this is still happening. I hope not. When you're dealing with endangered animals (I do deal with endangered breeds of livestock and poultry) you need to be very careful that you breed only the best. When there are so few you can't afford to screw up what's left.

I hope everyone takes what I've said with a grain of salt and does their own research into the problems of cloning before taking a bite of cloned meat. I'm not an expert, just a farmer who's done a lot of research.

The reference to endangered sheep or goats was a reply to a comment about cloning being used to save endangered animals.

Not off the soapbox yet but going back to work.

[Maine Writer]

Originally Posted by Elcarim

That is one of the many reasons we don't eat meat. Until we have a good source of fresh, non-altered and drugged meat, it's just out of our diet. I did see on a commercial yesterday that Tyson is using antibiotic free chicken now. Too bad there's still probably the growth hormones, the chemical doctoring during processing, etc.

Poultry can't legally be raised on hormones in this country now.

[msina]

"You must spread some reputation around,..... yada yada" Excellant post

[Elcarim]

MW, that's great to know. So, with Tyson going antibiotic free and already hormone free, the only toxins left to worry about are the preservatives?

[Zymer]

While there have been some problems with cow cloning, the horse people seem to have it worked out fairly well. Having said that, considering the expense of cloning an animal and the price that would have to be charged for its meat in order to make it a commercially viable proposition, I can't see that there would be a sufficient market it.

It's still a non-issue, just do the math. You'd have to charge more than $150/lb just to break even.