# Would You Be Willing to Eat Cloned Food? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 11, 2005, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-willing-to-eat-cloned-food/298863 "2005-04-11T22:58:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-willing-to-eat-cloned-food/298863/21 "2005-04-12T04:59:59Z")
Why the big fuss over cloned animals? It isn’t really different than the AI that already goes on. What gets me is that this seems to be a bigger to do than when they allowed the sale of milk produced with that special hormone. IMO, the hormone is more worrysome than cloned meat. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-willing-to-eat-cloned-food/298863/22 "2005-04-12T05:08:08Z")
> [@The Sausage Creature](#): > > Otherwise, I’m kinda having a hard time wrapping my brain around the expense involved in cloning an animal only to be on the slaughterhouse floor a short while later. At the moment, yeah, it’s cheaper to do things the ‘old fashioned way’, but it’s certainly conceivable that in the near future (5-15 years) it could become more cost-effective to clone a long line of genetically identical animals. And if there’s one things farmers are always on the lookout for, it’s ways to potentially get more yield for their dollar. Anyway, sure, I’d have no problem eating cloned animals. Hell, I’m all for vat-grown meat, too. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-willing-to-eat-cloned-food/298863/23 "2005-04-12T05:43:42Z")
Sure. I mean, broiled, fried, or doused with Teriyaki sauce, they all taste the same in the end. 😃 I’m just waiting for clone _vat_ grown meat. You know, so you wouldn’t even have to grow the rest of the animal. Humanitarian, _and_ it opens up the possibility of getting meats that’d be unfeasible otherwise. (Like, say, Penguin. Or a huge antflesh steak. Or an abalone-salmon chimera fillet. Maybe Mammoth with a side of Tasmanian Tiger.) ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-willing-to-eat-cloned-food/298863/24 "2005-04-12T06:21:07Z")
Aren’t a lot of the foods we eat already cloned? I’m pretty sure that bananas are, anyway. (Plants are a lot easier to clone than animals) ---
**Author:** ![lokij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5e9695/32.png) [@lokij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lokij)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-willing-to-eat-cloned-food/298863/25 "2005-04-12T07:13:01Z")
… chalk me up in the yes category as well. Heck, I’d heat a vat grown, genetically engineered, cloned and irradiated chunk of meat if it A. tasted good and B. was cheap. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-willing-to-eat-cloned-food/298863/26 "2005-04-12T07:25:31Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > I can understand people being wary of eating genetically engineered foods, like say, tomatoes with fish genes inserted in them, but cloned animals aren’t all that different than ordinary animals. So, would you do it? I’m not even wary about eating GM foods so cloned wouldn’t bother be either. Marc ---
**Author:** ![Caught\_Work](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/919ad9/32.png) [@Caught\_Work](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caught_Work)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-willing-to-eat-cloned-food/298863/27 "2005-04-12T12:57:17Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > Sure. I mean, broiled, fried, or doused with Teriyaki sauce, they all taste the same in the end. 😃 > > I’m just waiting for clone _vat_ grown meat. You know, so you wouldn’t even have to grow the rest of the animal. Humanitarian, _and_ it opens up the possibility of getting meats that’d be unfeasible otherwise. (Like, say, Penguin. Or a huge antflesh steak. Or an abalone-salmon chimera fillet. Maybe Mammoth with a side of Tasmanian Tiger.) Apparently they all taste like chicken 😃 I’d eat a cloned beast. As someone mentioned earlier, we eat cloned fruit, so what’s the difference. ---
**Author:** ![Madd\_Maxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Madd\_Maxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Madd_Maxx)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-willing-to-eat-cloned-food/298863/28 "2005-04-12T13:02:14Z")
My philosophy has always been “Better Living Through Chemistry” Cloned livestock means to me that every steak will be just as delicious as the last one; every chicken breast is equally tender & moist, every salmon fillet is firm & flakey. Cloning is a standard practice when it comes to plants, and has been for hundreds of years. You can buy cloning powder off the shelf at Home Depot to take a cutting from your prized tomato plant and make another whole plant that is exactly like the first. If we can do the same with old Bessie, why not? ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-willing-to-eat-cloned-food/298863/29 "2005-04-12T13:30:47Z")
> [@Khadro](#): > > I’m willing to go one step further and demand that we find one perfect specimen of each animal, and then ONLY eat meat cloned from said animal. > > At the same time, I am not against genetically modifying an animal to create abovementioned perfect animal. > > Or one animal of which each limb is a separate kind of meat. > > As long as I get my meat. Bad idea!!! Getting all our food from one “perfect” animal, cloned many times results in dangerous loss of genetic diversity. There is no such thing as “perfection”, only the best adapted set of characteristics for a given situation. If a disease evolves that has learned to bypass the resistance of your “perfect”, say, chicken, all you “perfect” chicken clones will die, & then you have no more chicken. Something similar happened in Ireland during the Potato Famine. Their potato crop was bred from a **very** small stock, & had little genetic diversity. So when disease _did_ ariive, it was a total disaster. Heed the wise words o’ yer Uncle **Bosda**! QUIT FOOLIN AROUND WITH DEM DARN CHICKENS, YOUNGUNS! It’s unnatural. 😉😛😃 ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-willing-to-eat-cloned-food/298863/30 "2005-04-12T13:37:05Z")
**Bosda** , I don’t disagree with the wisdom you offer. But we’re getting from the OP’s question. 😉 I’d eat cloned meat. But I wouldn’t reccommend putting all our livestock, grain, or fruit, into one strain. (With the exception of the Haas avacodo. That just tastes too damn good to go back to the natural thingy…) ---
**Author:** ![Earthworm\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f07891/32.png) [@Earthworm\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthworm_Jim)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-willing-to-eat-cloned-food/298863/31 "2005-04-12T14:17:11Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > the reaction of most people to that idea [eating cloned food] was, “Yuck!” I find that kind of hard to believe. I envision the exchange thusly: **Questioner** : Would you eat meat from a cloned animal? **Answerer** : What, you mean like grown in a vat? With that genetic imprinting deal like in that Arnold Swarzchenegger movie? Or where the meat is evil like in that bad DeNiro movie? Or where the emperor uses it as vast army to conquer the republic like in that Lucas movie? Heck no, cloning is bad! Anyone who’s been educated by Hollywood (and really, who hasn’t?) knows that! ---
**Author:** ![CapnPitt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/edb3f5/32.png) [@CapnPitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CapnPitt)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-willing-to-eat-cloned-food/298863/32 "2005-04-12T14:54:37Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > Sure. I mean, broiled, fried, or doused with Teriyaki sauce, they all taste the same in the end. 😃 > > I’m just waiting for clone _vat_ grown meat. You know, so you wouldn’t even have to grow the rest of the animal. Humanitarian, _and_ it opens up the possibility of getting meats that’d be unfeasible otherwise. (Like, say, Penguin. Or a huge antflesh steak. Or an abalone-salmon chimera fillet. Maybe Mammoth with a side of Tasmanian Tiger.) mmmm…antflesh…mmmm **Bosda** I don’t know that anyone is seriously proposing (outside of this thread) creating the uber-chicken. If that’s the case, well, you’re absolutely right…horrible idea. Otherwise if it produces better yield and feeds more people cheaply then it’s a good idea. IMHO, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Bird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Little\_Bird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Bird)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-willing-to-eat-cloned-food/298863/33 "2005-04-12T15:12:16Z")
Mmmmmmm…vat meat. Ooooh, how about growing meat in a tube so all you have to do to make a hamburger is cook the tube and cut it into slices? Perfect char on the outside, tender rare on the inside, irradiated so no icky bugs, I’d eat that! How about a tube of tenderloin with the bacon grown right around it, a three foot filet mignon? I could eat that for days… :drooling smiley: ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-willing-to-eat-cloned-food/298863/34 "2005-04-12T15:24:05Z")
> [@CapnPitt](#): > > mmmm…antflesh…mmmm > **Bosda** I don’t know that anyone is seriously proposing (outside of this thread) creating the uber-chicken. If that’s the case, well, you’re absolutely right…horrible idea. Otherwise if it produces better yield and feeds more people cheaply then it’s a good idea. IMHO, of course. Still, recall that cloning **does** restrict the gene pool. Not a very good thing. ---
**Author:** ![PoorYorick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PoorYorick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoorYorick)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-willing-to-eat-cloned-food/298863/35 "2005-04-12T16:00:41Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#): > > Still, recall that cloning **does** restrict the gene pool. > > Not a very good thing. I’m not a horticulturist, but don’t we generally keep heirloom species for that particular reason? I’m thinking particularly of corn, but probably other plants as well. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-willing-to-eat-cloned-food/298863/36 "2005-04-12T17:25:14Z")
If you eat eggs, you are already eating cloned meat. Although there are a few free-range egg farms, most eggs today contain DNA only from the hen. Most laying hens have never met a rooster. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-willing-to-eat-cloned-food/298863/37 "2005-04-12T18:35:03Z")
> [@AskNott](#): > > If you eat eggs, you are already eating cloned meat. Although there are a few free-range egg farms, most eggs today contain DNA only from the hen. Most laying hens have never met a rooster. Unfertilized eggs != meat. Additionally, since an egg will only have half the genetic material of the mother, it’s not a clone, either. It’s just an egg. ---
**Author:** ![alphaFemale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecb155/32.png) [@alphaFemale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaFemale)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-willing-to-eat-cloned-food/298863/38 "2005-04-12T19:57:24Z")
i’ll eat anything. ---
**Author:** ![Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tastes_of_chocolate/32/3232_2.png) [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-willing-to-eat-cloned-food/298863/39 "2005-04-12T20:36:58Z")
Yes I’d eat it if that was what was available. I would choose non-cloned first though. I do have doubts as to the necessity/wisdom of it. Is there really a cost savings? Do we really want to limit food production to those farmers/corporations big enough to afford the technology? How smart is it to create the situation where one mutated disease or virus can wipe out the entire industry? ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-willing-to-eat-cloned-food/298863/40 "2005-04-12T20:53:13Z")
I’m not a farmer, but don’t they already clone embryos when they artificially inseminate? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-willing-to-eat-cloned-food/298863.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-be-willing-to-eat-cloned-food/298863.md?page=3)