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American Morning

Is Cloned Meat Safe?

Aired September 18, 2002 - 08:43   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Breeders have been raising cloned cows and pigs for two years on farms across the country. Soon, some milk and even some meat from those animals will be on store shelves near you. Should you fear them? What are the facts?
Dr. Sanjay Gupta here in New York to talk about this in our "House Call" this morning -- good to see you.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Great. Nice, neat place for a "House Call."

HEMMER: Well, thank you very much. It is great to have you here, pal.

GUPTA: Well, the issue of cloning has always been a very controversial one. Certainly became a household word back in 1997 with Dolly the sheep. No one can forget Dolly the sheep. Certainly raised a lot of eyebrows at that time.

And the ethics and the safety -- the issues got raised again when people talked about actually implanting human embryos. There has been unsubstantiated reports of that as well.

But it might even get closer, Bill, as you mentioned, as we talk about cloned meat, meat from cloned animals actually coming to supermarkets, milk from their products or their progeny actually possibly coming to supermarkets as well. Not any time soon, but maybe in the future. We actually went to the streets to find out what people think about that. Are they ready for that? This is what we heard.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Milk should come from a cow, right? A cloned cow means the milk might be a little distorted, no? So I can't really say I feel too positively about it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's artificial. It's not the real thing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No past record, they don't have any past to base what any effect is going to be on anyone.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's unnatural to me. I wouldn't do it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I'm primarily against cloning. I'm not sure that it has been investigated enough for the long-term effect. So I'm just not sure enough that I would actually ingest it myself. (END VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA: So I will tell you, not a lot of positive reaction there, certainly talking about eating or drinking products from cloned animals, but this has actually been studied as far as it can be studied so far, and actually there is a statement put out by the National Academies -- National Council on Research, and they say, basically, there is no current evidence to suggest that the products from cloned animals, either from the cloned animals themselves, or from their progeny, would actually be unsafe, and that is sort of where we stand. They say more studies are needed. They need to take the cloned meat and traditional meat, put them side by side, evaluate them in terms of their safety, in terms of their content, all that sort of stuff.

HEMMER: But as you point out, so far as they know right know (ph), it is safe.

GUPTA: That's correct. As far as they know right now, it is safe. It should be no different than traditional meat or milk.

HEMMER: I mentioned cows and pigs across the country. How many cloned animals are there on U.S. farms right now?

GUPTA: Very good point. Well, it is a very small number still, we are talking about less than 100 animals probably still at this point.

It's a very expensive process, and Bill, you might remember, when we talked about Dolly the sheep, it took 277 tries to get one sheep. So this is not an efficient process, it is an expensive process, tens of thousands of dollars, so we are not going to be there for some time.

HEMMER: If it does reach that point, labeling for cloned food or not?

GUPTA: Interesting point. There may not be any mandatory labeling for cloned food, but what we've seen in the past with other situations, they actually take the other products, and they will say "not cloned meat," so you may see a lot of products -- you are not going to see it on the sidewalks any time soon, on the hot dog stands, but something to think of.

HEMMER: Thank you, Sanjay.

GUPTA: Good to see you.

HEMMER: See you again soon. Here's Paula now.

PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Bill. Thanks, doctor.

GUPTA: Thank you. Good to be here.

ZAHN: Are you ready for my questions?

GUPTA: Absolutely.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired September 18, 2002 - 08:43   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Breeders have been raising cloned cows and pigs for two years on farms across the country. Soon, some milk and even some meat from those animals will be on store shelves near you. Should you fear them? What are the facts?
Dr. Sanjay Gupta here in New York to talk about this in our "House Call" this morning -- good to see you.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Great. Nice, neat place for a "House Call."

HEMMER: Well, thank you very much. It is great to have you here, pal.

GUPTA: Well, the issue of cloning has always been a very controversial one. Certainly became a household word back in 1997 with Dolly the sheep. No one can forget Dolly the sheep. Certainly raised a lot of eyebrows at that time.

And the ethics and the safety -- the issues got raised again when people talked about actually implanting human embryos. There has been unsubstantiated reports of that as well.

But it might even get closer, Bill, as you mentioned, as we talk about cloned meat, meat from cloned animals actually coming to supermarkets, milk from their products or their progeny actually possibly coming to supermarkets as well. Not any time soon, but maybe in the future. We actually went to the streets to find out what people think about that. Are they ready for that? This is what we heard.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Milk should come from a cow, right? A cloned cow means the milk might be a little distorted, no? So I can't really say I feel too positively about it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's artificial. It's not the real thing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No past record, they don't have any past to base what any effect is going to be on anyone.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's unnatural to me. I wouldn't do it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I'm primarily against cloning. I'm not sure that it has been investigated enough for the long-term effect. So I'm just not sure enough that I would actually ingest it myself. (END VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA: So I will tell you, not a lot of positive reaction there, certainly talking about eating or drinking products from cloned animals, but this has actually been studied as far as it can be studied so far, and actually there is a statement put out by the National Academies -- National Council on Research, and they say, basically, there is no current evidence to suggest that the products from cloned animals, either from the cloned animals themselves, or from their progeny, would actually be unsafe, and that is sort of where we stand. They say more studies are needed. They need to take the cloned meat and traditional meat, put them side by side, evaluate them in terms of their safety, in terms of their content, all that sort of stuff.

HEMMER: But as you point out, so far as they know right know (ph), it is safe.

GUPTA: That's correct. As far as they know right now, it is safe. It should be no different than traditional meat or milk.

HEMMER: I mentioned cows and pigs across the country. How many cloned animals are there on U.S. farms right now?

GUPTA: Very good point. Well, it is a very small number still, we are talking about less than 100 animals probably still at this point.

It's a very expensive process, and Bill, you might remember, when we talked about Dolly the sheep, it took 277 tries to get one sheep. So this is not an efficient process, it is an expensive process, tens of thousands of dollars, so we are not going to be there for some time.

HEMMER: If it does reach that point, labeling for cloned food or not?

GUPTA: Interesting point. There may not be any mandatory labeling for cloned food, but what we've seen in the past with other situations, they actually take the other products, and they will say "not cloned meat," so you may see a lot of products -- you are not going to see it on the sidewalks any time soon, on the hot dog stands, but something to think of.

HEMMER: Thank you, Sanjay.

GUPTA: Good to see you.

HEMMER: See you again soon. Here's Paula now.

PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Bill. Thanks, doctor.

GUPTA: Thank you. Good to be here.

ZAHN: Are you ready for my questions?

GUPTA: Absolutely.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com