Citizens for Health joins with the Center for Food Safety and dozens of other food industry, consumer, and animal welfare groups in blasting this decision as insensitive as well as irresponsible, since it flies in the face of opinion polls showing that the majority of Americans do not want milk or meat from cloned animals in their food. A December 2006 poll by the Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology found that nearly two-thirds of U.S. consumers were uncomfortable with animal cloning. A national survey conducted this year by Consumers Union found that 89 percent of Americans want to see cloned foods labeled, while 69 percent said that they have concerns about cloned meat and dairy products in the food supply. A recent Gallup Poll reported that more than 60 percent of Americans believe that it is immoral to clone animals, while the Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology found that a similar percentage say that, despite FDA approval, they won't buy milk from cloned animals.
As a Citizens for Health member, you know we are committed to defending your right to the information you need to make your own health and wellness choices. That is why we are particularly disappointed that the FDA also failed to require labeling of food from clones, effectively preventing consumers from making educated decisions about what they put into their bodies.
In response to FDA's pending approval, US Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) has introduced Senate Bill S.414, the Cloned Food Labeling Act, and U.S. House Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) introduced an identical bill, H.R. 992, in the House just a few weeks later.
Thanks for taking action!
The Citizens for Health Team