Disease Proof

How do you feel about beef, pork, and milk? Not high on it. Neither am I, but, what about cloned beef, pork, and milk? My answer would be no, and, seriously? It’s true. The FDA is primed to accept cloned meat and milk. Rick Weiss of The Washington Post reports:

Having completed a years-long scientific review, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is set to announce as early as this week that meat and milk from cloned farm animals and their offspring can start appearing on supermarket shelves, sources said Friday.


The decision would be an act of defiance against Congress, which last month passed legislation recommending that any such approval be delayed pending further studies…

…Multiple studies compiled by the agency have shown that the chemical composition of those products is virtually identical to that of milk and meat from conventionally bred animals.

Studies in which rodents were fed food from clones have found no evidence of adverse health effects.

But public opinion has been negative, with some saying that not enough safety studies have been conducted and others concerned about the health of the clones, which are far more likely than ordinary farm animals to die prematurely.

Crap, as a staunch advocate of science, I’m not against cloning, I’m certain a lot of good will come from it, but, this gives me the willies. What do you think? Honestly, I wouldn’t eat the stuff anyway. Why? Dr. Fuhrman provides a great reason to go easy on the milk and meat:

When the death rates for prostate cancer and testicular cancer were examined in forty-two countries and correlated with dietary practices in a carefully designed study, they found that cheese consumption was most closely linked with the incidence of testicular cancer for ages twenty to thirty-nine, and milk was the most closely associated with prostate cancer of all foods.1 Meat, coffee, and animal fats also showed a positive correlation.

Although, I had a really good avocado the other day, I wouldn’t mind eating it again. 1. Ganmaa D, Li XM, Wang J, et al. Incidence and mortality of testicular and prostatic cancers in relation to world dietary practices. Int J Cancer 2002;98(2):262-267.