Are you prepared for the Food and Drug Administration to say that meat and milk products derived from cloned animals are safe for Americans to consume? I am not sure I am, although this week may bring that decision, according to The Wall Street Journal.

In the past, cloned livestock meat and milk producers could not sell those products until the FDA made a decision on the safety of consumers. It seems like that day is now near. Not only are cloned animal products at stake here, but products made from their offspring as well.

With the state of obesity from eating too much processed foods existing in the U.S. already, do we really want to begin eating products made from cloned animals any time soon? I'm quite sure big business wants to produce these products from herds of cloned animals -- but would you serve these products to your family?

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Bethany talked about the decision this week to allow proponents of animal cloning to vouch for food safety of cloned animals, so I started reading into the details.I'm not sure how to feel about this, but since I don't eat a heckuva lot of meat, it won't affect me in a huge way -- but I am in the minority.

Are there more ethical implications here -- or more implications that nobody has thought of yet? Just this past Thursday, the FDA issued a draft rule that found that meat from cloned cattle, pigs, and goats was as safe to eat as any other meat.

I'm not sure I agree with that statement since we are so close to just the beginning of he way cloning will infiltrate our daily lives. "FDA is essentially giving a couple of cloning companies a Christmas present at the expense of consumers and the dairy industry," said Joe Mendelson, legal director at the Center for Food Safety. At this point, I think I agree with him.

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After what has been deemed suitable testing, the FDA is ready to to give the green light and allow meat and milk from cloned animals into the food supply. Two separate studies found no nutritional differences between the meat and milk from cloned animals and animals bred conventionally. Since the FDA can not address ethical or moral concerns, they appear to have no reason to say no.

But ethical and moral reasons are just one issue that opponents are raising. Citing that cloning poses significant risk to mother and newborn, as well as food safety issues, the Center for Food Animal Safety filed a petition this week seeking regulation of cloned animals. I think this is an important point, because if FDA approval goes forward as planned, products from these animals won't be labeled and consumers will have no way of knowing if they are eating them or not.

Speaking of consumers, a survey found that 60% of Americans were opposed to using cloned animals for food. That's probably why the International Dairy Foods Association is one of the biggest opponents of the issue. Concerned the wholesome image of milk and other dairy products will be tarnished, the association represents some of the biggest names in dairy -- Kraft, Dannon, and General Mills among them.

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