The U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the nation’s highest scientific authority, has issued a long-awaited report cautioning that genetic manipulation of animals could pose a serious threat to the environment and human health. The report identifies a series of concerns about cloning and other genetic alteration of animals, ranging from fears that such animals could escape into the wild and change or destroy natural gene pools to the possibility that gene-altered meat, milk, or eggs could harm people. The report also cited potential benefits of biotechnology, including cheaper, more healthful food and new medical treatments. Overall, it emphasized the need for better and more coordinated regulation of bioengineering. The report was particularly concerned about genetically altered fish and insects, which are difficult to contain and could drive their wild relatives to extinction.
