The European Parliament has adopted a resolution calling on the Commission to submit proposals prohibiting the cloning of animals for food supply purposes, as well as the  farming of cloned animals or their offspring and the placing on the market or importing of products derived from cloned animals. MEPs refer to the higher mortality problems of cloned animals and the harm that allowing cloning techniques could cause to the image of the European agricultural model which is based on product quality and the respect for stringent animal welfare conditions.

Currently no products derived from cloned animals are sold in Europe or the rest of the world. However, experts believe that such products could reach the market by 2010. A moratorium on the sale of this type of product, introduced in the USA in 2001, was challenged by the US Food and Drug Administration, which concluded in January that meat and milk from clones of cattle, pigs and goats and their offspring are as reliable as those of traditionally bred animals.

The European Parliament (EP) stressed the fact that  several groups of European experts, including the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the European Group on Ethics, have recently highlighted the health, welfare and higher mortality problems of cloned animals and their surrogate dams. MEPs also stress that cloning would significantly reduce genetic diversity within livestock populations, increasing the possibility of whole herds being decimated by diseases to which they are susceptible.
 
During the debate carried out on September 2nd, MEPs quizzed the European Commission on its position and its plans as regards animal cloning.  In this sense, Androula Vassiliou, the Commissioner for health and food safety, said that the Commission was closely following scientific developments in this area and "is aware that even though the efficiency of animal cloning has improved over the last years, adverse health effects on animal health and welfare still occur today". The Commission "is now evaluating the necessary steps to be taken" and "takes ethical considerations fully into account", including the opinion of the European Group of Ethics.