Burgers from cloned animals 'by 2010'

[abdulhakeem]

By Nic Fleming, Science Correspondent
11/07/2007

Humans will be eating meat produced from cloned animals (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=GBFHKYMYQOHYNQFIQMGCFFWAVCBQ UIV0?xml=/news/2007/01/11/nembryo11.xml)within three years, scientists predicted yesterday.

American farmers are expected to be given the go-ahead to sell beef, pig and dairy products produced from the offspring of genetic copies by the end of the decade.

A European Union committee will make its decision based on the same scientific research used by the US Food and Drug Administration, which has already concluded that cloned livestock is "virtually indistinguishable" from other animals.

Scientists yesterday argued there was no evidence of any health problems linked to the consumption of food created using the technique, and said British farmers should be allowed to use it to produce cheaper, more environmentally-friendly meat.

However, campaigners said cloning of agricultural animals should be banned for both food safety and animal cruelty reasons.

Dr Simon Best, chairman of the BioIndustry Association, said: "I think it's very likely that millions of Brits will be eating hamburgers or bacon from cloned animals or their progeny in two or three years, but in America."

A cloned animal is a genetic copy of another individual from whom a cell has been taken and placed in an emptied egg.

Animal welfare campaigners say the technique is cruel to animals, both those that undergo the surgical procedures and the cloned offspring who suffer high rates of defects and illness such as obesity and cardiovascular problems.

Nikki Osborne, of the RSPCA, said: "We are totally opposed to the cloning of animals for food production.

"The process is inefficient, and has a huge potential to cause the animals involved unnecessary pain, suffering and distress for absolutely no valid reason."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2007/07/11/nsciclone111.xml

[abdulhakeem]

Meat is murder on the environment

18 July 2007
Daniele Fanelli

A kilogram of beef is responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions and other pollution than driving for 3 hours while leaving all the lights on back home.

This is among the conclusions of a study by Akifumi Ogino of the National Institute of Livestock and Grassland Science in Tsukuba, Japan, and colleagues, which has assessed the effects of beef production on global warming, water acidification and eutrophication, and energy consumption. The team looked at calf production, focusing on animal management and the effects of producing and transporting feed. By combining this information with data from their earlier studies on the impact of beef fattening systems, the researchers were able to calculate the total environmental load of a portion of beef.

Their analysis showed that producing a kilogram of beef leads to the emission of greenhouse gases with a warming potential equivalent to 36.4 kilograms of carbon dioxide. It also releases fertilising compounds equivalent to 340 grams of sulphur dioxide and 59 grams of phosphate, and consumes 169 megajoules of energy (Animal Science Journal, DOI: 10.1111/j.1740-0929.2007.00457.x). In other words, a kilogram of beef is responsible for the equivalent of the amount of CO2 emitted by the average European car every 250 kilometres, and burns enough energy to light a 100-watt bulb for nearly 20 days.

The calculations, which are based on standard industrial methods of meat production in Japan, did not include the impact of managing farm infrastructure and transporting the meat, so the total environmental load is higher than the study suggests.

Most of the greenhouse gas emissions are in the form of methane released from the animals' digestive systems, while the acid and fertilising substances come primarily from their waste. Over two-thirds of the energy goes towards producing and transporting the animals' feed.

Possible interventions, the authors suggest, include better waste management and shortening the interval between calving by one month. This latter measure could reduce the total environmental load by nearly 6 per cent. A Swedish study in 2003 suggested that organic beef, raised on grass rather than concentrated feed, emits 40 per cent less greenhouse gases and consumes 85 per cent less energy.

"Methane emissions from beef cattle are declining, thanks to innovations in feeding practices," says Karen Batra of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association in Centennial, Colorado. "Everybody is trying to come up with different ways to reduce carbon footprints," says Su Taylor of the Vegetarian Society in the UK: "But one of the easiest things you can do is to stop eating meat."

http://environment.newscientist.com/article/mg19526134.500-meat-is-murder-on-the-environment.html

[`asiya]

i understand that in america they wont be labelling the food as cloned. you wont have any idea what sort of animal you are buying Alhamdulillah i would suggest any non muslims worried about this, go and buy from your local halal butcher, muslims will not be eating the meat of cloned animals. :up:

[MG]

i understand that in america they wont be labelling the food as cloned. you wont have any idea what sort of animal you are buying Alhamdulillah i would suggest any non muslims worried about this, go and buy from your local halal butcher, muslims will not be eating the meat of cloned animals. :up:


mashallah :inlove:

[PiElle2]

2010!!???? That's only 3 years from now!!! :rubeyes:

[striving4jennah]

what is this world coming to!?...freaks!