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7 July 2016 - Mireille D'Ornano – [E-005570-16] - Subject: Food products from cloned animals:
In
December 2013, the Commission put forward a proposal to ban animal cloning in
the EU. In September 2015, Parliament broadened the scope of this proposal by
recommending a ban on the sale of meat or milk from descendants of cloned animals
and calling for traceability to be mandatory.
In
November 2015, an expert report conceded that such products may have ended up
on EU consumers' plates, as a result of meat, milk and genetic material — the
latter used for animal breeding purposes in the EU — being imported from the
US, China, Argentina, Brazil, Canada and Australia.
In
its 2008 report and 2009 and 2010 statements, the European Food Safety
Authority outlined the health and welfare implications for cloned animals: high
levels of mortality in gestation, difficult births and severe birth defects.
1.
Does the Commission take the view that people in the EU have the right to know
whether they are eating food products from cloned animals?
2.
Will it acknowledge that cloning is detrimental to animal health and welfare?
Answer
given by Mr Andriukaitis on behalf of the Commission (12 August 2016):
«1. Food from animal clones is considered a novel food
in the EU. Until such time as specific
legislation on food from animal clones[1] enters into force, food from animal clones falls under
the scope of Regulation (EC) No 258/97 on novel foods. It therefore requires a
pre-market approval including a safety evaluation and, if approved, it should
be appropriately labelled for final consumption in accordance with the Union
legislation in force.
2. The Commission, in its proposal for a Directive on the
cloning of animals[2], did indeed take into account the findings included in
the EFSA opinions mentioned by the Honourable Member to provisionally prohibit
in the EU the cloning of animals and the imports of animal clones.».
[1] Proposal for a Council
Directive on the placing on the market of food from clones (COM(2013)0893
final).
[2] Proposal for a Directive of
the European Parliament and of the Council on the cloning of animals of the
bovine, porcine, ovine, caprine and equine species kept and reproduced for
farming purposes (COM(2013) 0892 final)
