Akhir 24, 1432 H/March 29, 2011, SPA -- The European Union's parliament and secretariat on Tuesday accused each other of failing to compromise, as negotiations over labeling food from the offspring of cloned animals fell apart during more than 11 hours of overnight talks, dpa reported. Blame was also cast on the European Commission, which had mediated between the European Parliament and the EU Council, amid allegations that it had raised concerns over how labeling requirements could affect trade. Products from cloned animals - including sperm used to create offspring - are believed to come mostly from countries outside the EU, such as the United States. "There was a lot of pressure from the US on the commission, we heard," the parliament's novel food rapporteur, Kartika Liotard, said. "We heard again and again that this was going to trigger a whole trade war ... That's not the sort of thing a mediator would do, that's what something would do with an agenda." The negotiations were part of a wider effort to introduce rules on food from the offspring of cloned animals, which the EU currently lacks - in part because the science of cloning is in its infancy. Cloned animals themselves are not typically processed for food, because of their high price tag. However, meat and milk from their offspring could be sold in European supermarkets without being identified as such.
