Source:  Michael Fielding, MEATINGPLACE, 7/1/11

European consumers are less accepting of cloned animal products than their American counterparts, according to new research from Kansas State University.

The latest research from Sean Fox, Kansas State University professor of agricultural economics, was part of a survey of students in agriculture, English and sociology at Kansas State University. Their responses were compared to attitudes of agriculture students in Dublin and Purpan, France.

Researchers asked participants about their likelihood of buying and eating meat and other products from cloned animals.

“We were interested in finding out how different groups of consumers react to the possibility of consuming products that were derived from cloned animals,” Fox said in a news release from Kansas State University. “We were also interested in how those reactions differed between countries, particularly in the United States and Europe.”

The FDA does not regulate the sale of milk or meat from the offspring of cloned animals.

More European students were concerned about cloning from an ethical and moral perspective, while the American students cited food safety concerns. The strength of opposition to cloning was much stronger for those who morally opposed cloning than for those who opposed it for food safety concerns, Fox said.

The survey also found that women were less likely to purchase cloned products, and people familiar with science were more accepting of cloned products.

“It will be interesting to see how big an impact the messages of groups campaigning for or advocating against the concept of cloning will have on consumers, versus how big an impact that scientific information from a university like K-State will have,” Fox said. “Or, if people have access to both messages, which they choose to believe.”

The issue of cloning made headlines in March, when approval of a “novel foods” regulation in the European Union failed after the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers clashed on how meat from cloned animals and their offspring should be regulated.

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