Your Say

04/03/2008

Euroview

Good farming is about high levels of animal welfare and any moves to increase yields at the expense of animal welfare is something that Welsh farmers would resist.

This is why I have supported calls to the European Commission for a moratorium on cloning animals for food production.

The Conservatives in the European Parliament have put forward a motion, calling for the Commission to submit proposals prohibiting the cloning of animals for food supply, their farming and placing on the market and the importation of such animals or their products. 

Cloning is something that I think makes many people uncomfortable, for moral and ethical reasons. But there are good animal welfare reasons too. Mortality and morbidity levels are much higher than in naturally-produced animals. Many of the animals die in great pain, of cardio-vascular failure, liver failure, respiratory problems and kidney and musculoskeletal abnormalities. 

Cloning also reduces the genetic diversity of livestock, effectively leading to interbreeding. It would also increase the chance of problems such as whole herds or populations of animals being wiped out by a disease or infection to which they are susceptible.

The Parliament is being asked to vote on the moratorium at its next plenary session (week of 10th March). So why clone animals at all? The principal reason is to produce multiple copies of animals with fast growth rates or high yields. But traditional selective breeding has already led to leg disorders and cardiovascular disorders in fast growing pigs, and lameness, mastitis and premature culling in high yielding cows. The cloning of such animals will lead to even greater health and welfare problems.
But I think that many consumers are extremely uneasy about the prospect of eating meat or products from cloned animals. We risk moving too far in front of the science and we are already seeing the consequences - weak gene pools, premature deaths and unnecessary suffering of animals.

The European Commission must ban animal cloning - particularly for animals we eat - until we are absolutely certain the techniques are safe for humans and ensure higher levels of animal welfare. Even then, I still doubt there will be a great demand from the consumer.

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