Cloned cow saved from slaughterhouse

Cloned cow saved from slaughterhouse

	Published : Fri, 09 Feb 2007 21:49 By : Agencies Print this Story

HAGERSTOWN, Md. (AFX) - A cloned dairy cow at the center of a family business dispute has been saved from the slaughterhouse for now, the animal's cash-strapped owner said Friday.

Williamsport farmer Gregory C. Wiles said the 6-year-old Holstein named Genesis and 51 other cattle from his herd will be placed on two nearby farms under a plan to settle his nearly $7,600 debt to his father without having the clone and her offspring sold for hamburger.

'The food supply is secure as far as these cloned animals,' go, Wiles said.

Wiles' financial woes had threatened to force a sale of the clone for slaughter despite the U.S. food industry's voluntary ban on products from cloned livestock pending the government's expected approval of sales sometime in the next year.

Wiles said half of his 104 cattle were either sold to a dealer or earmarked for slaughter by midnight Thursday as a court-imposed deadline expired. The others, including the pregnant Genesis, her offspring and the offspring of another, recently deceased clone, were moved from the family farm to the nearby farms.

Wiles managed the family's dairy operation for about 20 years and invested heavily in cloned cattle, but he was evicted in early January for failing to pay rent to his father Charles.

Wiles traced his financial problems to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's request in 2003 that farmers refrain from selling products from cloned animals into the food supply. Wiles complied by dumping milk from his two cloned cows and their 15 offspring.

Wiles said his other cloned cow, Cyagra, died Jan. 26. He said he sent her remains and those of her aborted fetus to the Maryland-Virginia College of Veterinary Medicine in Blacksburg, Va., for study.

Given the continuing controversy about cloning, Wiles said consumers will likely be leery of food from cloned animals when it reaches the market.

'From what I'm hearing and reading, I don't think the general public wants to drink this milk and eat these animals,' Wiles said.