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Number One Milk Company Says No to Clones

February 23, 2007 — By Libby Quaid, Associated Press 

WASHINGTON -- The nation's biggest milk company, Dean Foods, said Thursday it
will refuse milk from cloned cows. The Food and Drug Administration gave
preliminary approval to meat and milk from cloned animals and could grant 
final
approval by the end of the year. Federal scientists say there is virtually no
difference between clones and conventional cows, pigs or goats. 

Smaller companies such as Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream and Organic Valley 
previously
have said they oppose milk from clones. Dallas-based Dean Foods is a $10 
billion
company that owns Land OLakes and Horizon Organic, among dozens of other 
brands.
In a statement issued Thursday, the company said its customers and consumers
don't want milk from cloned animals. 

"Numerous surveys have shown that Americans are not interested in buying dairy
products that contain milk from cloned cows and Dean Foods is responding to 
the
needs of our customers," the statement said. 

Milk companies worry that concern over cloning could turn people away from 
dairy
products. So far, public opinion appears mixed. A September poll by the Pew
Initiative on Food and Biotechnology found that 64 percent of respondents were
uncomfortable with animal cloning. And a December poll by the University of
Maryland found that the same percentage would buy, or consider buying, such 
food
if the government said it was safe. 

Dean Foods spokeswoman Marguerite Copel said the company respects the FDA, 
"but
we've got a customer and consumer base." 

The company did not say whether it would use milk from the offspring of cloned
animals. Cloning companies say the purpose of cloning is not to put many 
cloned
livestock into the food supply. Instead, the goal is to make a genetic copy 
of a
superior animal and then put its offspring into the food supply. 

Source: Associated Press 

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