NOVEL FOODS : EXEC PROPOSES BAN ON CLONING FOR FOOD PRODUCTION.

The European Commission wants to ban the use of the cloning technique for farm animals in the EU, including bovine, porcine, ovine, caprine and equine species. It also wants to restrict the sale and imports of animal clones and their embryo clones as well as ban the sale of food, such as meat and milk, produced from cloned animals. Under the proposal, presented on 18 December after an over two-year delay, cloning is supposed to be allowed in Europe only for purposes such as research, conservation of rare breeds and endangered species or "justified" use of animals for the production of pharmaceuticals and medical devices. "Today's initiatives on animal cloning respond to animal welfare concerns as well as consumer perceptions on food from animal clones in a realistic and workable way," Health Commissioner Tonio Borg told a press conference. It is the second attempt by the Commission to regulate this sector, after the collapse of the latest negotiations in 2011.

But the proposals, consisting of two draft directives (ban on the use of cloning technique and sale of cloned animals; and...