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Risk assessment of meat and milk from cloned animals

Nature Biotechnology volume 25, pages 77–83 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

Research on, and commercialization of, cloned cattle has been conducted for more than 20 years. Early techniques relied on the physical splitting of embryos or using embryo cells for nuclear transfer to generate cloned animals. Milk and meat from these animals entered into the human food market with no evidence of problems. With the advent of nuclear transfer, which enables the direct transference and preservation of high-value meat- and milk-producing genotypes to offspring, concerns have been raised about whether the products from somatic cell nuclear transfer–produced animals are safe for human consumption. Studies on the biochemical properties of food products from cloned and noncloned animals have thus far not detected any differences. All data to date indicate no significant differences in the measured parameters between animals created by nuclear transfer and normally bred animals. Public acceptance of cloned animal products depends upon forthcoming US Food and Drug Administration approval along with convincing safety data.

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Figure 1: Cloned cattle versus controls: blood and meat composition.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Regenerative Biology and Department of Animal Science, University of Connecticut, Storrs, 06269-4243, Connecticut, USA

    Xiangzhong Yang & X Cindy Tian

  2. Department of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Agriculture, Kagoshima University, 1-21-24 Korimoto, Kagoshima, 890-0065, Japan

    Chikara Kubota

  3. Cyagra, Inc., 197 Bossler Road, Elizabethtown, 17022, Pennsylvania, USA

    Ray Page

  4. Evergen Biotechnologies, Inc., 1392 Storrs Road, Unit 4213, Storrs, 06269, Connecticut, USA

    Jie Xu

  5. Department of Animal Science-Physiology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, 48824, Michigan, USA

    Jose Cibelli

  6. Animal Reproduction and Biotechnology Laboratory, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, 80523-1683, Colorado, USA

    George Seidel Jr

Authors
  1. Xiangzhong Yang
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Correspondence to Xiangzhong Yang.

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Competing interests

R.P. and J.X. are employees of δCyagra and Evergen Biotechnologies, respectively. (R.P. is no longer at Cyagra.) X.Y. is the scientific founder of Evergen.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Table 1

Details of animals used for meat composition analysis.

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Yang, X., Tian, X., Kubota, C. et al. Risk assessment of meat and milk from cloned animals. Nat Biotechnol 25, 77–83 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt1276

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