The US Department of Agriculture yesterday asked US farmers to keep their cloned animals off the market indefinitely even as Food and Drug Administration officials announced that food from cloned livestock is safe to eat.     

Bruce I. Knight, the USDA's undersecretary for marketing and regulatory programs, requested an ongoing "voluntary moratorium" to buy time for "an acceptance process" that Knight said consumers in the United States and abroad will need, "given the emotional nature of this issue."  

Yet even as the two agencies sought a unified message - that food from clones is safe for people but perhaps dangerous to U.S. markets and trade relations - evidence surfaced suggesting that Americans and others are probably already eating meat from the offspring of clones.  

Some U.S. consumer groups have expressed concern for the cloned animals, which often have health problems, and have suggested that the American public may be as tough a sell as the wary consumers in the European Union and Japan.  

"Despite the fact that cloned animals suffer high mortality rates and those who survive are often plagued with birth defects and diseases, the FDA did not give adequate consideration to the welfare of these animals or their surrogate mothers in its deliberations," said Wayne Pacelle, chief executive of the Humane Society of the United States.  

Some U.S. groups have demanded that food from clones be labeled to give consumers the "right to choose."  

USDA Recommends That Food From Clones Stay Off The Market - washingtonpost.com