Eat Your Clone

The FDA has just given Big Meat the go ahead to start the factory clone farms; apparently cloning technology is BAD in the context of medical stem-cell research, but is GOOD when used to help Taco Bell increase profits.

The Food and Drug Administration proposed today that cloned animal products be sold without separate safeguards based on studies showing they pose no more risks than natural-born goods.

What does this mean? No more Clone Warning labels?
What if I am allergic to clones?
Eating clones doesn't sound so healthy:

Some US consumer groups maintain that surrogate mothers, in which the cloned animals are grown, are treated with high levels of hormones. They claim that clones are often born with severely compromised immune systems and receive massive doses of antibiotics, opening the way for large quantities of pharmaceuticals to enter the food supply.

Right now, there aren't any cloned products on the market, but you can bet your last strand of DNA that the technology to mass-produce heifers customized to meet Big Mac specifications is nearly ready for use- there was undoubtably some heavy lobbying going on to get this draft passed-
the FDA didn't introduce this proposal for no reason- someone stands to make big bucks cloning McCows and they don't want squeamish consumers put off just because their cloned products are even deadlier than the current, traditional variety.

Make money butchering clones. It's the future.

But how?

Cloning is a lot more expensive than breeding- at least it is now. If this draft is passed, Big Meat can 'transition' from bred animals to cloned animals without notifying the consumers that their hamburgers no longer have parents.
The research is being done to find a way to clone food animals in a manner that is more profitable than the artificial insemination techniques currently used- the animal husbandry days of cows fucking are long since gone...

If we reach the point where we have giant clone factories to meet our demands for fast food and filet mignon, then it's not a stretch to take it to the next level and start cloning humans- I don't wanna sound too 'X-Files' here, but if Big Meat develops the capacity to manufacture an endless herd of customized ubercattle, then the next step is...well, let's just say this is how Clone Wars get started.

I'm quitting meat.

I'm not against cloning- for instance, it would be great if one day we could clone new organs for people with faulty original parts-but the idea of perverting something with so much potential for good into just another way to poison the unquestioning consumer masses appalls me.

One of our greatest scientific achievements, served with fries.

.