As predicted, member state representatives refused the European Parliament’s demand to label clone-derived products, meaning that meat from the offspring of cloned animals could find its way onto the European Union market, with no-one being the wiser. There are no current EU rules that specifically allow for a ban on dairy products and meat from cloned animals. The European Commission and Council wanted to regulate such products under the novel food rules. The breakdown in negotiations means the 1997 novel food rules remain in force. The Parliament had also called for further checks to be developed to adequately assess the safety of foods using nanotechnology, and for food containing nanoingredients to be labeled. The failure to reach an agreement on the new rules ensures that “there will continue to be no special measures regarding nanomaterials in food,” according to an EP statement. The article can be viewed online at the link below.
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/en/headlines/content/20110324STO16430/html/EU-countries-reject-EP-call-for-labelling-of-clone-derived-food