Clone cow gives birth to eight calves

London: New fears about food safety were raised yesterday as eight "clone farm" cows were revealed to have been born in Britain.

The cows' mother was a clone created in a US laboratory using cells from the ear of a prize-winning animal. Her calves are believed to have been flown here as frozen embryos and implanted into a surrogate.

There is no ban on the meat or milk produced by the offspring of clones, so the calves could enter the food chain within months. Three of the calves were born at the Smiddiehill Holsteins farm in Shropshire in December 2006. A farm worker said there were no cloned cows in Britain but confirmed their mother was a clone. He said the farm had since got rid of the herd.

Details of the births emerged as a survey found consumers have serious safety concerns about clones. The Food Standards Agency revealed that an "overwhelming majority" said they would not eat food from cloned animals. Europe's food safety body has released draft guidance concluding that foods from cloned pigs and cattle are essentially identical to those from conventional animals.