Cloning loophole must be closed

However any safeguard – irrespective of the subject matter – is only effective if the rules are adhered to at all times. Indeed, it is this failure of regulation that has allowed meat from the descendants of cloned cows to enter the food chain without the necessary protocol being followed by the Scottish farmer in question.

It is also important that this regulatory lapse, and the resulting inquiry, takes precedence over the wider moral debate about the advancement of science – and whether there is a rightful place, or not, for cloned animals in the food chain.

This discussion will, inevitably, take time and require careful consideration. What cannot wait, however, is the need for an inquiry into the cloning controversy, and the Food Standards Agency's role.

The watchdog does not inspire confidence after it denied meat from a cloned animal had been consumed by humans before being forced to eat its words – proverbially speaking, of course.

Yet, while there is, thankfully, no evidence to suggest that there is any health risk, the FSA – and others – have been found wanting. The law could not be clearer – under European regulations, foodstuffs, including milk, produced from cloned animals must pass a safety evaluation and gain authorisation before they are marketed.

However, the FSA said it had neither made any authorisations, nor been asked to do so. Yet, despite this, the farmer concerned maintains that he has done nothing wrong since buying the cows concerned in good faith in February 2009. He is left with 100 cows who are the offspring of two cloned bulls.

The priority now is to assess how these animals entered the food chain and for the relevant loopholes to be closed before the dairy industry suffers any lasting, and unnecessary, damage at a time when public demand for high-quality British farm produce has never been greater.