For Immediate Release
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Contact:
Cassandra Benz
217.356.2426 Ext. 33
Hundreds of Scientists Endorse FDA Risk Assessment on Livestock Cloning
Over 200 scientists have signed a public statement in support of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s draft risk assessment on the safety of food from cloned animals and their conventionally-bred offspring. The sign-on letter was distributed by the Federation of Animal Science Societies (FASS). The full text and list of signers can be found at www.fass.org/DefendScience.
“FASS is proud to give scientists an opportunity to congratulate the U.S. FDA on a thorough and excellent job,” said Dr. Jerome Baker, CEO of FASS. “This is one of the most rigorous food safety reviews ever conducted. The American people should be absolutely confident in the FDA’s good work.”
The document states that “We support and agree with the FDA’s conclusion as stated in the science-based draft risk assessment that edible products from healthy cloned animals and progeny of cloned animals pose no additional food consumption risks relative to corresponding products from other animals.” It is signed by some of the world’s leading researchers. Signers include Dr. Terry Etherton, who was on the National Academy of Sciences panel that evaluated the safety of food from clones and their offspring, as well as one of the “fathers” of Dolly the Sheep — Dr. Ian Wilmut.
In addition to coordinating the sign-on letter, FASS also ran an advertisement in the Wednesday, May 2nd Washington Post. In that ad, Etherton says “The scientific evidence is absolutely, robustly clear. There is no food safety risk from the meat or milk from clones, or from their conventionally bred offspring.” In addition to serving on the NAS panel that evaluated this issue, Etherton is a former President of FASS and the Head of the Department of Dairy and Animal Science at Penn State University.
“FASS will continue to take an active role in helping educate the public about the scientific community’s support for the FDA on this issue,” said Baker.
About FASS: The chief public voice for animal science in the United States, the Federation of Animal Science Societies represents 13 scientific societies and more than 10,000 individual animal scientists.
Federation of Animal Science Societies
111 N. Dunlap Avenue
Savoy, Illinois 61874
phone: 217/356-3132
E-mail: fass@assochq.org
Web site: www.fass.org