Don't have a cow man!

A piece of business on a controversial issue slipped through the House of Commons last night without being noticed.

It was a motion innocuously entitled European Union Document, but in fact it related to the use of genetically cloned animals for food production in Europe.

The nub of it is that the EU Commission has written a report recommending a ban or temporary suspension on cloning, the use of clones and the marketing of food from clones across Europe.

The Commission says this is needed because of “possible risks as regards food safety and the health and welfare of animals”.

Meanwhile the report says there are still issues to be sorted out in relation to the “ethical dimension, trade implications and the consumer's right to be informed about the production process”.

But last night’s motion, which passed through unopposed, saw Parliament supporting a Government call that any sort of ban would be “disproportionate”.

In other words both the Government and Parliament now officially agree that it should be all systems go on using clones in food production – reckon there may be a few MPs out there who aren’t so sure about that.