The case for importing cloned foodstuffs has sparked a heated debate amongst the European Institutions, our MEP and Commission guests discuss why.

Focus: Should we import cloned foodstuffs?

Hello. Where does our meat  and our milk come from?

From traditionally bred animals or  from cows whose parents were cloned?

Europe is proud  of its traditional food products,

but the new technology market  is forcing food production to diversify.

In March negotiations broke down  between governments and the EP

to approve a set of regulations  on novel foods.

Julie Martin will tell us  what novel foods are

and whether they pose risks  to human and animal health.

yet she is the first cow  cloned in 1998 at INRA,

the French National Institute  for Agricultural Research.

Cloning is carried out with this machine.

Cloning is the reproduction of  an individual without fertilisation.

The main aim of cloning  for the agro-alimentary industry

is to reproduce elite animals,  which have been genetically selected

or to produce meat  with specific properties.

Animals are cloned  to become elite procreators

and then reproduce naturally  with other non-cloned animals.

Eating them is out of the question even if  it's almost impossible to identify them.

The quantity of protein  and fat is the same,

In terms of the quality of the products,  there's no difference.

The FDA, the American Food and Drug  Administration concludes the same.

The European Food Safety Authority  is more cautious in its comments.

It says that there is no indication that  cloned produce is less safe to consume.

The nutritional side has been enough  to go ahead with cloning in the US,

yet Europe is concerned  by the ethical side.

We met members of the Group on  Ethics at the European Commission.

It's not harmful,  there's no point in banning it

or saying it will cause problems  for consumers, as it won't.

Our conclusion is there  aren't any great advantages.

The few advantages there  are quite weak,

yet there are the disadvantages  like animal welfare

and the possibility of the reduction  of biodiversity.

Ethically, one proposed solution is  to better control this new technology

through a code of conduct, respecting  the welfare of the cloned animal,

as well as that of the  animal which donates the cells.

In Europe, cloning is practised  in less than 10 labs.

Here at the INRA,  they go one step further,

by monitoring the gestation period,  the postnatal period,

and the animal's welfare  in the long term.

Infrastructure was put in place,  with an adapted veterinary service,

focusing on the higher risk of poor  placenta development during gestation.

Via ultrasound and sophisticated  imaging techniques,

we look at the development  of the foetus and placenta.

If there are abnormalities, which  currently we don't know how to treat,

we do a caesarean  and terminate the pregnancy,

so that the mother cow  and the foetus do not suffer.

As for the traceability and  systematic labelling of these products,

as demanded by the EP to guarantee  freedom of choice for consumers,

In practice, it's possible to trace clones  and even their descendants.

In theory, it's possible to trace  the second, third and fourth generations

but in practice it's much more difficult,  so better forget about that.

Though in Europe food from cloned  animals or their descendants is still rare,

it should be noted that 2.5% of sperm  used in the reproduction of our cattle

where they don't have any traceability  requirements for cloned animals.

We're here today to talk about something

that's been on the Brussels agenda  for months

and has sparked heated debates  between institutions.

Some lobbyists are pleased  that the absence of an agreement

means that they can carry on  importing cloned foodstuffs.

To talk about these novel foods  are Paola Testori,

European Commission Director-General  for Consumer Protection,

and Christofer Fjellner from the  Group of the European People's Party.

Paola Testori, there have been  long and difficult negotiations

to create a new regulation  for novel foods.

Can you tell me, in 20 seconds,  what novel foods are?

that have been invented  or put on the market since 1997.

These novel foods require individual  authorisation and risk assessment.

So they are foods  produced in a laboratory?

They can be natural foods  that haven't been used before in Europe.

For example some novel foods are plants,

some are foods created  using new production techniques.

So the negotiations went badly.  What was the sticking point?

The sticking point  was the use of cloned foodstuffs.

We're talking about food  from the descendants of cloned animals.

It's not as if we're eating  Dolly the sheep.

No, cloned animals  don't enter the food chain.

There is nowhere in the world  where cloned animals are eaten.

They're too expensive  for making burgers.

used to produce embryos  or genetic material.

Over to you to explain  why Parliament has been stubborn.

It's taken a firm stance,  but then so have the governments,

especially regarding the fact  that they wanted to label

foodstuffs deriving  from the descendants of clones.

Many colleagues saw ethical issues  around cloning,

and something that the people of Europe  didn't want to have.

And that was, I think,  the main objection.