German Parliament to vote in favour of permanent prohibition of livestock cloning and mandatory labelling of relevant food products

Today the German parliament is likely to vote in favour of a permanent prohibition against the cloning of animals for food production. The German government will also be urged to push for EU-wide labelling that extends to the offspring of cloned animals and food products. Testbiotech welcomes this initiative but raises doubts about its ultimate success, since the planned free trade agreement TTIP is likely to diminish any room left for political decision making.

“Politicians have to get their priorities right. Do they want to have clear prohibitions and mandatory labelling or pave the way for corporate interests in the cloning of livestock? As far as we know, the planned free trade agreement TTIP will not allow mandatory labelling in this context”, Christoph Then says for Testbiotech. “So it looks as if we have to face the consequences: Free trade or freedom of choice.”

Contrary to the German Parliament initiative on a permanent prohibition, the EU Commission has proposed a legal ban on the cloning of animals that is limited to just a few years. This means that once the TTIP comes into force this regulation is likely to end automatically.

Opinion polls show that consumers reject the cloning of animals for food production. Nevertheless, there is some evidence that offspring from cloned animals have already reached the EU market and are not labelled.