Long study led to U.S. cloned food safety decision

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Cloned animals may often be born deformed and die young but scientists, who have looked at every aspect of their biology to try to explain why, can find no evidence that it would be dangerous to eat them.

None of the more than 700 studies reviewed in detail showed any evidence to suggest that milk or organ or muscle tissue from cloned animals could harm someone who ate it, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said in its final report on the subject on Tuesday.

"We have actually done a more in-depth analysis of the meat from cloned animals than has been done ever," said Mark Walton, president of Texas-based farm animal cloning firm ViaGen.

In 2002, a National Academy of Sciences panel said there was no reason to believe that meat or milk from cloned animals may be unsafe. But it said the FDA should do a review, and because of the outpouring of opinions and fears about the subject, the agency extended its review for more than a year.

Cloned calves have died from respiratory, digestive, circulatory, nervous, muscular and skeletal abnormalities, as well as because they had abnormal placentas, the FDA noted.

And researchers have looked at all the possible causes of these abnormalities -- changes in the genes, in other parts of DNA that affect what genes do and the process of cloning itself.

They have looked at whether the surviving animals have unusual levels of hormones such as the stress hormone cortisol or growth hormones. They have looked at whether their milk contains altered levels of fat or fatty acids, and they have fed animal products from clones to mice and other animals to see if there are any health effects.

TRICKING AN EGG