Most recently, the two leading cloning companies, ViaGen and Trans Ova Genetics, sought to ease minds by developing a system for tracking clones as they make their way from farms to processing plants to stores. Groceries could tell customers whether a product came from a clone, but the system doesn't account for food made from the offspring of clones, the probable sources.
A local industry group, the MdBio Division of the Tech Council of Maryland, tried to blunt Mikulski's outspoken opposition in a Dec. 20 letter warning that delaying approval could "risk slowing the future growth of the Maryland biotechnology industry."
USDA moved to extend the voluntary moratorium in just the past several days, according to Steve Mower, director of marketing for the Cyagra animal cloning company, and Jim Greenwood, president of the Biotechnology Industry Organization trade group.
