ReporTwitters Blog

to: Admin@bioindustry.org

Dear Mr Best,

I am a freelance journalist based in Amsterdam, and am interested in finding out more about your opinions about on commercial cloning issues. I read in a few news articles that you are quite an advocate of this issue.
I was wondering if you are aware of the deadline that the EFSA has for concluding its study of this issue? To my knowledge the authority is concluding its collaboration with outsiders by the end of the year and I read somewhere that its likely that the year 2008 is not totally impossible for the inclusion of (unlabeled) beef in European markets.

You seem to downplay this in the Consumers Association publication (who published PA news) and to the BBC you created the impression that you’d wannt to get the job rushed when you told them that labeling leads to uncompetitive circumstances (is that what you meant?).

I am curious what your ideas are on this issue. To me it seems that comments like yours (with all due respect) are designed to keep the public from throwing a fit. But at the moment it is difficult for me as a journalist to find decent articles that outline healthy opposition to this issue. Unlike in the US, where consumer associations have had to fight tougher battles for years, having been in a battle involving hormone induction in cows for them to produce more milk.

I am writing an article on the subject, in which I compare the situation in the US with the one here in Europ e. I would be interested to include your viewpoint on the matter. Do you think that the public is unduly worried? What do you make of IFIC’s research in the US showing that the majority of people is against all forms of cloning but that they don’t know what is being concocted at the moment by regulators?

I have written one article on the subject (http://www.globalpolitician.com/articleshow.asp?ID=3249&cid=1&sid=24) and my next article focuses on consumer awareness differences in the US and Europe.

Kind regards,
Angelique van Engelen