IF I ACTUALLY TRUSTED THE F.D.A. . . .

. . . this might not be so friggin' scary. But they've done it, folks. This week.

This, from Truthout.org . . .

After years of debate, the Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday declared that food from cloned animals and their progeny is safe to eat, clearing the way for milk and meat derived from genetic copies of prized dairy cows, steers and hogs to be sold at the grocery store."

This did little to make me feel better . . .

Animal breeding takes time, so even with Tuesday's actions, it is likely to be several years before products from the offspring of clones are at the grocery store in appreciable quantity.

Consumer groups immediately lambasted the F.D.A.'s report, saying that the science remains inadequate and that many consumers oppose cloning for religious or ethical reasons. Some members of Congress had sought to delay a decision until further studies were completed.

And the FDA doesn't believe special labeling is necessary. Ugh.

However, Representative Rosa DeLauro, Democrat of Connecticut, has introduced legislation to require labels on cloned products, and consumer groups suggested that labeling would be a battleground in the near future.

The USDA is calling for a "moratorium."

The U.S. Department of Agriculture yesterday asked U.S. farmers to keep their cloned animals off the market indefinitely even as Food and Drug Administration officials announced that food from cloned livestock is safe to eat.

Bruce I. Knight, the USDA's undersecretary for marketing and regulatory programs, requested an ongoing "voluntary moratorium" to buy time for "an acceptance process" that Knight said consumers in the United States and abroad will need, "given the emotional nature of this issue."

Yet even as the two agencies sought a unified message - that food from clones is safe for people but perhaps dangerous to U.S. markets and trade relations - evidence surfaced suggesting that Americans and others are probably already eating meat from the offspring of clones.

Okay, I've managed to quit smoking (well, for two weeks plus, anyway). Maybe it's time to give up my meat-eating ways and become a vegan . . .