By Theodora Filis Research for this article began when I was asked to be a guest on China Radio’s Today on Beyond Beijing contributing to their panel discussion on cloned meats. I was honored, but cloned meats? What did I know about cloned meats? Nothing, and apparently, I wasn’t alone. Kept in the dark would be an accurate description of how American consumers are treated when it comes to cloned meats and food from their offspring. Reproductive cloning is a centuries old technology used to generate an animal that has the same nuclear DNA as another animal — Bio 101 ends here. Farm animal cloning, on the other hand, is a new technology. While scientists boast that cloning preserves elite genetics, further studies suggest the process may actually result in subtle changes in food composition which could pose food-consumption risks. In the US, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not regulate the sale of milk or meat from offspring of cloned animals
It is imperative we all pay attention to the impact of our collective and personal actions on the environment. During the next decade, our global community will be unable to deal effectively with the formidable environmental challenges posed by decades of environmental mismanagement. There are many environmental issues I write about in this blog, some will scare you, and it is my hope, these articles will give you a reason to question and search for answers.