The president of the Irish Cattle and Sheepfarmers Association says he is "horrified" by the US Food and Drugs Administration's ruling that milk and meat from cloned animals are safe to consume. Seán MacConnell, Agriculture Correspondent, reports.
Malcolm Thompson said yesterday that food from cloned animals could end up on dining tables. "I am horrified at what I have learned so far and, while I have no special scientific knowledge to say that these products would be unsafe, I think this is the wrong way to go with food."
He said the draft ruling, that food from cloned cattle, pigs and goats, but not sheep, was safe to eat, smacked of the same kind of issues surrounding genetically-modified food.
His 10,000-member organisation is opposed to the use of GM food either in the human or animal food chain and has asked the Government to declare Ireland a GM-free zone.
A Department of Agriculture spokesman said the European Food Agency would have responsibility for the issue here, and it would be guided by its recommendations.