Letters to the editor for Jan. 20

• Published January 20, 2007

• Comments (0)

Would you eat meat from cloned animals?

Remember the E. coli cases from spinach, or lettuce, the illnesses from fresh juices, and the threat of mad cow disease? What's next?

Despite concern among scientists, and food safety advocates and even cloning scientists who have acknowledged that genetic abnormalities are common in clones, the FDA announced over the holidays that meat and dairy products from cloned animals are safe to eat.

Maybe you believe the FDA, but personally, I do not, as its track record is poor indeed.

Whether you believe the FDA or not, meat and dairy products from cloned animals should not be sold to the American public (or exported), unless the products are labelled "from cloned animals." The FDA has further announced that they will not require this labeling.

Soon there will be an open comment period, and everyone interested in this serious issue should take the time to send in their comments and let their voices be heard.

By the way, a recent news article states a ranch run by a Texas biotechnology company already has a field of a dozen cloned calves, and an Austin based company with three ranches already sells cloned cows, pigs and horses.

Does it make you wonder, once again, who is minding the store?

Diane M. Williams, Lacey

Starving elk should be hunted

Kudos to Chester Allen for writing it and The Olympian for printing it. I'm talking about the article in the Outdoor section titled "St. Helens elk population can't survive without hunting."

Starving to death should never be an option. The cost alone to relocate 2,500 elk is reason enough not to do any type of relocation effort. Elk die from being frightened to death during these relocation roundups and the meat cannot be used from a tranquilized elk that dies during one of these operations. It's a lose/lose situation.

Coyotes and cougars will eat an elk while still alive if they are weak from starvation. That could be the best option for them. The other option might be months of holding onto life by eating Scotch broom down in the river bottom like they do now.