Commission cautiously opens the door to cloning

摘要

The European Commission, which on 14 January presented a draft regulation on 'novel foods', is also to take a first step towards the marketing of foodstuffs resulting from cloned animals in Europe. While avoiding the use of the term 'cloning', it will propose setting up an authorisation procedure for the marketing of "emerging reproduction techniques," largely similar to that in force for GMOs.rnThe large-scale development of cloning is not anticipated by the Commission for some years. Nevertheless, the EU executive is preparing, as of now, the legal framework for milk and meat products resulting from cloned animals, as it did in the mid-1990s for genetically modified organisms (GMOs).rnWhile the Commission initially considered clearly indicating that the future regulation on new foods applies to cloning, it erased the term, without, however, abandoning it. In the draft text, cloning became an "emerging reproduction technique" or a "non-traditional process".