Scientists find way to scan for cloned meat

Scientists said here yesterday that meats can be certified clone-free with DNA-tracking, a fast and cheap technique already used in some countries to certify beef and chicken as organic or hormone-free.

“Think of it as God’s barcode,” said Professor Patrick Cunningham, a DNA-tracking pioneer and now science adviser to the Irish government.

Originally developed to deal with public fears about meat sources during the European outbreak of Mad Cow disease in the 1990s, the method has since been improved and now costs only pennies per food item.

Cunningham said the method would also reveal meat or milk from the direct progeny of cloned cattle but costs rise sharply for later generations.

“I can’t see where it would be justified for their grandchildren or great-grandchildren,” he told a news conference here at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

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Tagged as: American Association for the Advancement of Science, Cloned Animals, Mad Cow Disease

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