Japan’s Health Ministry said in a report obtained by Reuters on Friday that no abnormalities had been found in meat or milk derived from cloning technology
But the report, based on a three-year study, also called for the creation of a system to deal with any problems that might crop up in the future.
“Because it is a new technology, we conclude that special considerations should be taken,” the report said.
Sales of food made from cloned animals are currently prohibited under a “voluntary” ban urged by the Farm Ministry.
But according to a Kyodo news agency survey conducted in December, 33 of the 40 facilities in Japan that raise cloned cattle are planning or considering shipments in future.
Officials declined to say whether the report would herald a sea change in a country known for its fussy consumers and tight restrictions on foods derived from biotechnology.
“At the moment, we have no plans to allow the distribution of meat or milk from cloned cows in the domestic market,” an official at the ministry’s inspection and safety division said.
The Health Ministry’s report, which echoes similar findings made in June 2000 and last August, refers to cows produced using the cloning technique that created Britain’s Dolly the sheep in 1996.
Animals are cloned by taking the nuclei of cells from adults and fusing them, using an electrical current, into other egg cells from which the nuclei have been extracted.
