WHAT WE DO

we campaign to end factory farming

The UK must end its support for the cloning of animals. Take Action to ask the Agriculture Minister to change the UK’s position on the ban.

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If you would like to read about cloning in more depth, please visit our cloning resources and download free factsheets and reports, including a Q&A on cloning
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Cloning = Cruelty

Compassion is against the cloning of animals for food. Compassion has been campaigning in the EU and in the UK against cloning for a number of years.

Cloning is a technology that has been developed so that farmers can raise exact copies of their ‘best’ animals. For example this means the fastest-growing pigs or the highest-yielding dairy cows. Unfortunately the so-called ‘best’ animals are all too often those who will develop the most health problems – pushed to their physical limits, they are condemned to a lifetime of suffering.

The Case Against Cloning

The Cloning = Cruelty campaign highlights the intrinsic animal welfare issues of selective breeding in animals for food – i.e. meat and dairy. Research also shows that many cloned farm animals are born with deformed organs and live short and miserable lives.

Animals involved in the cloning process suffer

The cloning of farm animals can involve great suffering. A cloned embryo has to be implanted into a surrogate mother who carries it to birth. Cloned embryos tend to be large and can result in painful births that are often carried out by Caesarean section. Many clones die during pregnancy or birth. Of those that survive, a significant proportion die in the early days and weeks of life from problems such as heart, liver and kidney failure.

High Yield Farm Animals Encounter Serious Welfare Problems

The serious health and welfare problems from the over-zealous use of more traditional selective breeding techniques are now well recognised. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), for example, sees genetic selection for high milk yield as “the major factor causing poor welfare” in dairy cows. Similarly, pigs bred for overly rapid growth often suffer leg, heart and lung disorders. In other words, the animals are being pushed to their physical limits and are often breaking down as a result. They are genetically selected to suffer.

The Ethics of Cloning Are In Question

The European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies (who also advise the European Commission) ‘sees no convincing arguments to justify the production of food from clones and their offspring’.

The Political Situation

In 2008, the European Parliament voted for a ban on the sale of meat and milk from clones and their offspring (read more here). However, this does not mean an end to the threat of cloning animals for food. A clear law to ban the sale of meat and dairy from cloned animals or their offspring is yet to be passed in the EU.

The Commission published a report in 2010 that Compassion feels doesn’t go far enough in condemning the import and export of embryos and semen from cloned animals. Current discussions between the Parliament, the Commission and the Council of Ministers to try and reach agreement on the Novel Foods Regulation (which will cover the issue of cloning) are underway.

Attack of the Clones?

In August 2010, cloning hit the European headlines when it emerged that meat from the offspring of cloned animals had been discovered in the UK food chain. Compassion’s campaign urged the UK government to call for an EU ban on the practice of cloning animals for food.

In just 2 days, over 7,000 signatures were gathered and in August 2010, Compassion marched 40 clones of David Cameron to deliver the petition to their clone, the British Prime Minister.

Watch the video diary of our Cameron Clones march to Downing Street here:

The campaign attracted widespread media attention as Compassion representatives were called upon by the BBC, ITV, Sky and the world’s press to comment and debate upon the issue.

The Campaign Continues

Compassion will continue, with its European partners, to fight the introduction of cloning animals for food.

Compassion is calling on the Coalition Government and the rest of the EU to follow the European Parliament’s lead and prohibit the sale of food from cloned animals and their offspring
Compassion continues to lobby at EU level to influence the debate between the EU Council, Parliament and Commission to end the threat of cloning in Europe for good by bringing in clear and comprehensive legislation to prohibit its use
Please click here to write to UK Agriculture Minister, Jim Paice MP, urging our ministers to re-consider their refusal to oppose cloning.