Would You Like Fries With Your Clone?

New research about genetics may be indirectly fueling fears about cloning. Scientists have learned in recent years that what goes on in the cell's molecular machinery is far more complicated than they used to think. Epigeneticists have begun to enumerate ways in which traits can be passed from one generation to the next that have nothing to do with DNA. This raises the theoretical possibility that cloning may have unintended effects even though a cloned animal is an exact DNA replica of the original. "Although successful clones may appear normal, the possibility remains that some may harbor subtle genetic defects that could impair their health or make them unsafe for consumption," said the Union of Concerned Scientists in a statement. Most anticloning groups use similar reasoning in calling for more time and more studies before cloned meat and milk are allowed to be sold as food. "If you don't get all the details, you don't know your subject," says Sonja Van Tichelen, director of the Eurogroup for Animals.

The problem with epigenetic effects is that nobody knows what they might be, or even if, in the case of cloned livestock, they would have any effect worth noting. The safety authorities in the United States and Europe have apparently reasoned that a theoretical possibility is not reason enough to ban the practice. Bad publicity, on the other hand, may be. "If it wasn't for all the publicity" about cloning, says Princeton molecular biologist Lee M. Silver, "the FDA wouldn't be looking into this at all. If you have a new breed of cow, it doesn't have to go through this kind of scrutiny. [Cloning] is just a different form of breeding." The benefit of livestock cloning (healthier breeding stock) is obvious for farmers but is unlikely to inspire consumers; a similar situation beset Monsanto in the 1990s with GM seeds. It's difficult to imagine Europeans accepting cloned livestock, regardless of what the scientists say. Judging from the past, America will be a different story.

With Christopher Werth in London

© 2008