John Block Reports from Washington

We are going to have another food fight. I knew it would be just a matter of time from the day that Dolly made the headlines. Now, the Food and Drug Administration released a 678-page analysis concluding that milk and meat from cloned animals is safe to eat. No risk. Drink it down. Stick a fork in it. Steven F. Sundlof, FDA's Chief ofVeterinary Medicine, said, "There's just not anything there that is conceivably hazardous to public health."

However, the opponents of cloning are going to scream about the safety risks and animal welfare implications. They are the same critics that complain about genetically engineered crops, that complain about supplemental BST to increase milk production.

All of the scientific research concludes that the milk and meat from cloned animals is indistinguishable from other animals. There is no difference.

FDA is not saying that cloning animals is economical. That's not their job. They just say the meat and milk is safe. I'm not convinced that cloning is the wave ofthe future. It is very expensive and the consuming public is weary ofthe idea.

Still, we must rely on sound science and allow the research to go forward.

When I was a boy showing my 4-H pigs at the County Fair, I always entered 3 pigs in the category called "pen of barrows. " If you had any hope of winning Grand Champion Pen of Barrows, they had to have good conformation and be uniform. If I could have only had 3 cloned pigs, they would have been perfectly uniform, and they could have won the show.

Until next week, I am John Block from Washington.