A Kansas cattle producer says that offspring of cloned animals have already entered the food supply. Donald Coover, a cattleman and veterinarian, says that he has sold semen from prize-winning clones to many US meat producers in the past few years, and that others may be doing the same.

“This is a fairy tale that this technology is not being used and is not already in the food chain,” said Coover. “Anyone who tells you otherwise either doesn’t know what they’re talking about, or they’re not being honest.”

Cloned animals are prohibitively expensive for general consumption and are more likely to be used as genetic stock for breeding. Cloned cattle currently cost $15,000 to $20,000 per copy.

US Department of Agriculture officials say that a voluntary market-sale moratorium has been removed from offspring of clones but not from clones themselves.

“I have sold offspring of cloned animals into feedlots, and they are in the food chain,” Coover told the Star-Telegram on Wednesday.

TAKE ACTION: Send a letter to the FDA demanding labeling of cloned food products