[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 16 (Friday, January 26, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Page S1243]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Ms. MIKULSKI:
  S. 414. A bill to amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and 
the Federal Meat Inspection Act to require that food that contains 
product from a cloned animal be labeled accordingly, and for other 
purposes; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
  Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce a bill to 
require the Government to label any food that comes from a cloned 
animal.
  I am strongly opposed to the FDA approving meat and milk products 
from cloned animals. No one needs cloned milk and meat. Most Americans 
actively oppose it.
  But the Food and Drug Administration has decided that food from 
cloned animals is safe to eat. And, since they have decided this is 
``safe,'' they will not require that it be labeled as coming from a 
cloned animal.
  The American people don't want this. Gallup Polls report over 65 
percent of Americans think it is immoral to clone animals and the Pew 
Initiative on Food and Biotechnology found that a similar percentage 
say that, despite FDA approval, they won't buy cloned milk.
  The National Academies of Science reported that so far, studies show 
no problems with food from cloned animals but they also admit that this 
is brand new science. What about the possibility of unintended 
consequences a few years from now? They cautioned the Federal 
Government to monitor for potential health effects and urged diligent 
post-market surveillance.
  So even if we agreed the science appears safe, we need to follow it 
closely. But, once the FDA determines this is safe they said they will 
allow the food to enter the market unidentified, unlabeled, unbeknownst 
to all of us and completely indistinguishable from all other food. We 
won't be able to tell which foods were made the good old fashioned way 
and which came from a cloned animal
  Must we be compelled to eat anything a scientist can produce in the 
laboratory? Just because they can make it, should Americans be required 
to eat it? Of course not. The public deserves to know if their food 
comes from a cloned animal.
  To help the American public make an informed decision on this, today 
I will introduce a bill to require all food that comes from a cloned 
animal to be labeled. This legislation will require the Food and Drug 
Administration and the Department of Agriculture to label all food that 
comes from a cloned animal or their offspring. We need to know and we 
must be able to decide for ourselves. And I mean all food--not just the 
packages we buy in the supermarket but the meals we choose from a menu.
  The FDA has a responsibility to guarantee the safety of our food. 
Though many aspects of food safety are beyond their control--this is 
not. We do not know enough about the long term effects of introducing 
cloned animals, or their offspring, into our food supply to guarantee 
this is safe. Is this decision to allow cloned animals into our food 
supply influenced by factors other than keeping the public safe? Are 
they allowing an eager industry to force a questionably scientific 
process on an unknowing public?
  We simply don't have the same trust in the FDA as we once had. 
Recently the Wall Street Journal found that over half of Americans feel 
the FDA does not do a good job keeping our drug supply safe. We want to 
trust them with the safety of our food supply but what if they are 
wrong?
  What if the FDA has made a mistake and finds out a few years from now 
that there was a problem with this. If we do not keep track of it from 
the very beginning--by clear and dependable labeling--we could 
contaminate our entire food supply. If the food is not properly labeled 
we can't remove it from the shelves like we did with problematic drugs 
such as Vioxx and Celebrex. We must be proactive. We must label these 
foods.
  I reject the notion that the FDA or anyone else should force 
Americans to accept and consume any product that can be manufactured in 
a lab--no matter how offensive the product is. We need to insist that 
the FDA treat the public fairly. If cloned food is safe, let it onto 
the market, but give consumers the information they need to avoid these 
products. We need to let Americans speak with their dollars and choose 
the food they have confidence is safe.




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