International

"The European Commission is ignoring the interests of the consumer and ignoring the welfare of animals. Allowing novel foods on to the European market is a result of privileging economic interests, something which unfortunately is likely to persist." So says SP Euro-MP Kartika Liotard, who in her capacity as Rapporteur on the issue for the European Parliament met this week with the European Commission and the Council of Ministers. Their aim was to try to find a way out of the impasse brought about by a difference of opinion between the three institutions over a proposed EU Regulation on novel foods. Liotard wants to see meat from cloned animals immediately banned for human consumption, in order to protect both human health and the wellbeing of farm animals.

"It has become obvious to me this week that the European Commission is divided on this," says Liotard. There are European Commissioners who agree with me, as well as with a majority of the European Parliament and with the Council of Ministers that food from cloned animals does not belong on our plates. On ethical grounds, I don't believe that it is ethical to eat animals whose life expectancy is so drastically reduced, which are liable to have extremely painful birthing experiences and which are vulnerable to diseases. We shouldn't be going down this path. But there are also in the Commission influential people whose primary concern is with trade, and people who are frightened of the World Trade Organisation."

Message

‘I want the European Commission to send a clear signal and to come up with immediate legislative proposals aimed at ensuring both food security and respect for the rights of animals," Liotard continued. "We can't wait until December for this."

Foodstuffs from cloned animals not yet illegal

In 2008 it emerged that the European Commission was intending to include food from cloned animals in the regulation on novel foodstuffs. Following a proposal from the SP, the European Parliament dismissed this idea. Clones for the production of food are, however, as things stand, not forbidden."I still don't know of any distributor that wants to bring this sort of food on to the market, but you can't control the activities of producers outside the EU. That's why we need a European regulation."