Cows might be cloned for consumption

WASHINGTON - 11/11/05 - If approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), meat and milk from cloned cows will be on U.S. dinner tables.

Cows, pigs and other cloned animals are already living on company and producers' farms waiting for the FDA decision.

Although research hasn't revealed safety issues with cloned products, surveys by the Food Information Council say 63 percent of consumers aren't interested in eating cloned meat.

The high price of creating clones would likely mean the animals would be used as breeding stock and their offspring would be used for meat, officials say.

Those in favor of marketing cloned products say clones could provide an answer to improving livestock by perpetuating disease-resistant lines.