FARM ANIMAL CLONING AND OFFSPRING OF CLONES

That this House notes that scientific research shows that cloning entails serious health and welfare problems for both cloned animals and the surrogate mothers who carry them to birth; further notes that most cloned foetuses die during pregnancy or birth and many of those born alive die early in life from deficiencies in their cardiovascular, respiratory or immune systems; further notes that clones will primarily be used as elite breeding animals and it is their offspring that will be farmed for meat or milk; further notes that cloning will probably be used to produce copies of the highest yielding dairy cows and fastest growing pigs despite scientific evidence that traditional genetic selection has already led to major health problems for such animals; believes that the use of the offspring of clones on UK and other EU farms is likely to entrench the use of animals chosen for extreme production traits and risks perpetuating the health problems associated with such traits; and urges the Government to abandon its opposition to the European Commission's proposals for a ban on cloning and the sale of food from clones and to press the EU to also ban the use of the offspring of clones in EU farming and the sale of food from the offspring of clones or, at least, to require such food to be labelled to enable consumers to make informed choices.