Got (cloned) Milk?

After five years of study, the FDA tentatively concluded that milk and meat from cloned farm animals are okay. I think the bigger news is that consumers need not know if their meat or milk is from a cloned animal or not.

Ostensibly, it is not required because: (a) it is just one of the many "techniques" that industrialized farms already use (b) it improves the safety of the animals (c) it improves the "quality" of milk and meat (d) it is cloning, hence there is nothing different! (e) it is actually the meat and milk from the offsprings of cloned animals, not the initially cloned animals (f) it will reduce the cost of food production and therefore the price consumers pay... and more.

I am all for scientific advancements. But, I would like to know if what I eat and drink is from a cloned animal. Would you?

That aside, what scares me is if the next frontier is genetically modified animals, where the main objective is to enhance the yield of meat and milk from a single animal. Once again, this is being done in agriculture crops already. Yield enhancement in seeds and fruits is widely seen as beneficial. Many countries have escaped famine and poverty because of such techniques.

Should we allow this in the case of live stock? It's a tough call.

I think science crosses a line when we raise genetically modified "high-yield" varities of sheep, cattle, pigs, and chicken. I shudder to think how these animals will look like, let alone consume their products.

And before I do, I do want to be informed.