Some cloning safe, European report says

BRUSSELS, July 25 (UPI) -- An advisory group in Europe reported meat and milk from cloned animals was safe but required further study.

Reporting to the European Commission, the European Food Safety Authority said "for cattle and pigs, food safety concerns are considered unlikely," the EU Observer reported.

"The composition and nutritional values of meat and milk from healthy clones and their offspring are not different from those obtained from conventionally produced animals," said Vittorio Silano, the head of EFSA's scientific committee.

But, the report also said "uncertainties in the risk assessment arise due to the limited number of studies available," The New York Times reported Friday.

The commission is also looking at ethical reports. The European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies said there were "doubts as to whether cloning animals for food supply is ethically justified."

If left unapproved by the commission, the issue could lead to trade disputes. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has asked producers to enact a voluntary moratorium on cloned-animal products, but declared safe products from cloned cattle, pigs and goats.

In theory, cloning can produce superior animals but the process also produces a relatively high number of animals with deformities, the Times reported.