Position as of January 15, 2021
Animal cloning is questionable for the Swiss Farmers’ Association. Especially because cloning is not accepted by the general public either. These are not primarily health concerns related to the consumption of meat or milk from animals with clone genetics. Rather, it is ethical issues that concern consumers. The production of a cloned animal has undesirable side effects, such as excess clone embryos or cloned animals with defects. Swiss agriculture wants to be close to nature. It positions itself above quality and demands appropriate prices for it. Cloning doesn’t fit this image. For this reason, the Swiss Farmers’ Association worked with the industry in 2018 to develop a regulation on how to deal with clone genetics and included this in the guidelines of QM-Schweizer Fleisch on January 1, 2019. He welcomes the fact that the industry solution has also been incorporated into the Suisse Garantie meat and milk industry regulations and the exhibition regulations of the Swiss Cattle Breeders Association. This means that milk or meat with clone genetics may no longer be produced under the Suisse guarantee and no animals with clone genetics may be presented at the exhibitions. We check compliance with the requirements in our QM Swiss Meat program. Violations are strictly sanctioned and can lead to exclusion from the program. We expect the same procedure from the sponsors of the other relevant regulations. Because it is important that implementation is demanded from all livestock farms: Failure to comply with a single farm can lead to major image damage for the entire Swiss agricultural sector!
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