Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) altered the European Commission’s (EC) initial proposal to ban animal cloning to include the cloning of all farm animals, their descendants, and products derived from them, including imports into the European Union, in a vote on Sept. 8. The legislative report was adopted by 529 votes to 120, with 57 abstentions.
“We need to take into account the impact on animal health, but also on human health,” said the agriculture committee co-rapporteur, Giulia Moi (Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy Group, Italy). “This reports sends the message to our trade partners that we are not willing to put our own health, our families’ health, and future generations’ health at stake using products of dubious quality of this nature.”
While animal welfare would be respected for the descendants of cloned animals born by means of conventional sexual reproduction, the high mortality rates at all development stages of cloning their progenitor raise significant animal welfare and ethical concerns, said Parliament. It therefore extended the ban to cover the germinal products of animal clones, descendants of animal clones, and products derived from them.
In addition, the EP stated that the ban should also cover animals which are already derived from clones in certain third countries. Imports into the EU should only be allowed if the import certificates show that animals are not animal clones or their descendants. The ban should also apply to imports of animal germinal products and food and feed of animal origin.
The amended text converts the legal act into a regulation, which has to be applied directly in all member states, rather than a directive, which would require further national legislation. Parliament also extended the ban’s scope to cover all species of animals kept and reproduced for farming purposes and not only bovine, porcine, ovine, caprine, and equine species as proposed by the Commission.
In a speech to Parliament after the vote, Vytenis Andriukaitis, commissioner for health and food safety, said he regretted that the amendments left very little of the initial Commission proposals. “Let me remind you that Commission had proposed to ban the use of cloning technique in the EU for five species and the import of live clones form third countries,” said Andriukaitis. “The report that we are discussing today seeks to enlarge significantly this reasonable ban to include descendants of clones as well food and feed from descendant of clones. It also seeks to enlarge to the ban to all animal species and their products.”
Andriukaitis also said many of the amendments are legally impossible, or disproportionate. The co-rapporteurs will now start negotiations with the Council of the EU on the final shape of the law.
