Europeans Skeptical About Animal Cloning for Food Production

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--A Flash Eurobarometer poll published by the European Commission today indicates that European citizens have a generally negative attitude to animal cloning for food production.

“The survey provides us with valuable insights into the attitudes of EU citizens toward the use of animal cloning technology for food production”

The poll shows that most Europeans understand what animal cloning is (eight out of 10 stated correctly that animal cloning is making an identical copy of an existing animal). Secondly, the study shows that most Europeans view cloning for human consumption negatively; 81 percent believe that the long term effects of animal cloning on nature are unknown, and 84 percent believe that we do not know enough about the long-term health and safety effects of using cloned animals for food.

"The survey provides us with valuable insights into the attitudes of EU citizens toward the use of animal cloning technology for food production," said EU Health Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou. "The European Commission now has before it the opinions of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the European Group of Ethics (EGE), and also the Eurobarometer survey. The Commission will now proceed with the analysis of these elements before considering whether and what action may be necessary."

Earlier this year, the European Group of Ethics (EGE) stated that it had doubts as to whether cloning animals for food supply was ethically justified. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) said cloned products appeared to be safe for human consumption, but some concern remained regarding animal health and welfare.

Background:

The Eurobarometer was conducted in July 2008. More than 25000 randomly selected citizens were interviewed in the 27 EU Member States.

With regard to whether cloning was justified, 58 percent of respondents said that animal cloning for food production should never be justified, 41 percent thought that it could justified to improve the robustness of animals against diseases, and 44 percent thought it could be justified if used to preserve rare animal species.

On other questions, 38 percent believed that none of the potential benefits presented to them (health or economic) would justify breeding cloned animals for food production. Of those who believed that there could be benefits from animal cloning, 54 percent felt that the procedure might help solve the worldwide food problems. However, 54 percent and 44 percent of the respondents respectively felt that animal cloning would benefit neither consumers nor farmers.

The food industry was the sector that 86 percent of respondents thought would ultimately benefit if animal cloning for food production purposes were allowed.

Respondents stated they were "not at all likely" to buy food derived from cloned animals (43 percent) or from the offspring of cloned animals (41 percent).

For more information, please visit: http://ec.europa.eu/food/food/resources/publications_en.htm