Closing the Barn Door After the Cows Have Gotten Out

New York Times

January 23, 2008

Verlyn Klinkenborg



This article is about the selling of cloned meat and animal products. The Food and Drug Administration says that the cloned meats and dairy they’ve tested have proven harmless to humans, but the Department of Agriculture wants to hold off until people have gotten over the “anti-cloning prejudice”. Klinkenborg, the author, says he does not plan on eating any of these cloned products. He isn’t so much concerned with the safety of the product as with how much the meat packing industry is benefiting from mass producing identical meats. It doesn’t benefit us as consumers because we are used to a steak tasting and feeling different each time we eat one. This push toward cloning will limit diversity and eliminate all variation. He says this, in turn, is having an effect on the farmers. They are also getting less and less diverse since they are only supervisors of their farm, instead of owning it. They are also caring less about taking care of the meat because of it. This is really a waste of genes, says Klinkenborg, and “it looks like what it is: a dead end.”

I thought this was a really good issue to write an article about. I had not heard that they were cloning meat and attempting to sell it to people. This seems like a good idea in theory, but after reading the whole article, Klinkenborg persuaded me to not want to eat cloned meat. I think he did a pretty good job in arguing his point. He doesn't want to see the planet become one giant clone with no biodiversity or variation, and I agree. It was mostly his opinion, with a couple of facts thrown in for good measure. It could have been a better article if he would have presented some research about the cloning and how much of it is really going on. Overall, it was a good article and I think people should read about this issue.