Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-09-02-Speech-2-520"
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"en.20080902.36.2-520"2
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"Mr President, I want to thank Mr Parish for raising this question, because it is a question to which the Commission has given a lot of consideration and considers important, and it is indeed something which preoccupies us. The European Commission – as Mr Parish said – has asked EFSA to provide an opinion on food safety, animal health, animal welfare and the environmental implications of the use of live animal clones.
The final opinion was adopted on 15 July this year, and the Commission is now evaluating the necessary steps to be taken. This opinion refers to uncertainties in the risk assessment due to the limited number of studies available. It also refers to the fact that the health and welfare of a significant proportion of clones have been found to be adversely affected, often severely, with a fatal outcome.
The Commission is aware that, even though the efficiency of animal cloning has improved in recent years, adverse health affects on animal health and welfare still occur today. There are indications that mortality and morbidity rates in clones after birth are higher than in sexually-reproduced animals. However, most surviving clones are normal and healthy, as determined by psychological measurements as well as by behaviour and clinical examinations.
The Commission closely follows the scientific developments in this area. In 2004 the Commission also financed a pan-European research project called Cloning in Public, addressing ethical, legal and other societal aspects of farm animal cloning. The project was coordinated by the Danish Centre for Bioethics and Risk Assessment and aimed to promote public debate on the issue of biotechnology.
As far as the involvement of the public is concerned, in autumn 2007 the Commission launched a public consultation on the ethics of animal cloning for food supply, and in September 2007 it organised an open round table on the same topic with representatives from academia, industry, NGOs, civil society, international organisations, industry etc. In order to increase public participation, the round table was also broadcast on the internet, and its proceedings have been published.
Last but not least, the Commission has recently launched a Eurobarometer survey on consumers’ attitudes to cloning for food production. Its purpose is to ask the public about their opinion and their awareness regarding cloning and food derived from the offspring of cloned animals. The results will be made available very shortly.
The Commission takes ethical considerations fully into account when dealing with sensitive issues such as cloning. The Commission has given its attention to the ethics of animal cloning since 1997, when the group of advisers to the European Commission on the ethical implications of biotechnology issued an opinion on the ethics of cloning. Due to the state of the art of technology at that time, the opinion did not address the use of cloning for food purposes. It is for this reason that the Commission asked the European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies, the independent advisory body to the Commission in this field, to give an opinion on the ethical aspects of animal cloning for food supply. Their opinion was published in January this year. Considering the current level of suffering and health problems of surrogate dams and animal clones, the European Group on Ethics expressed doubts as to whether cloning animals for food supply is ethically justified. It advocated that at the moment there are no convincing arguments to justify the production of food from clones and their offspring. The Commission is currently examining the concerns expressed by the Group.
Under international rules, restrictions to imports of products must be based on legitimate concerns, not be discriminatory, and be proportionate to the objective pursued. According to global trade rules, imports of food products from third countries might be suspended if they present a serious threat to animal or public health. On the basis of the studies conducted and the opinion of EFSA, the Commission will consider whether restrictions must be imposed. I am sure this will be done very shortly."@en1
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