Why Do EU Consumers Reject Cloned Food?

The recent European Commission report about consumers giving the thumbs down to cloned food has been widely reported. What has received less coverage are the reasons for concerns, and whether the UK feels any differently from other EU countries.
Overall, 58% of EU consumers felt that cloning animals for food was never justifiable. Austria, Sweden, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania and Luxembourg were most opposed. Italy, France ,the Netherlands and Finland came next with over 60% saying that cloning for food was never justifiable. The equivalent UK figure was 45%. Generally women were more opposed than men, as were older people and country dwellers.
Regardless of country, the biggest issue in consumers minds is that not enough is known about the long term health and safety aspects of cloned food. 84% of EU consumers agreed with this statement, with the UK, possibly scarred by memories of BSE and CJD, coming in a bit higher with 87% agreeing.
There is also strong agreement that animal cloning for food is not just a technical issue, rather that it could be seen as unacceptable on ethical grounds. The EU average here was 75%, the same figure as for the UK.
67% of EU consumers agree that that cloning for food production is not acceptable because it treats animals as commodities rather than creatures with feelings. The figure for the UK was slightly lower with 62% agreeing.
Another problem with cloned food is that consumers cannot see how it would benefit them. Rather they felt that the food industry would be the main beneficiary (86% agreeing in the EU, 90% in the UK), and that farmers would also benefit (45% across the EU, 60% in the UK). This echoes what happened on GM foods where there was an underlying unease which was never offset by consumers being given a really good reason why GM was a good thing. The best benefit that consumers could see for cloned food was if it was demonstrated that cloning might be a solution to world hunger. Few saw health/nutrition as a benefit that would justify cloning, and even fewer an economic benefit.
The acid test of course is whether consumers are prepared to buy cloned food. Whilst marginally more prepared to buy food from an animal where just one parent is a clone, there is still a great deal of resistance, even if a trusted source says cloned food is fine. Across the 27 EU countries, 41% said they were not likely to buy cloned food at all, and 21% were somewhat unlikely to buy. The corresponding figures for the UK were 34% and 19%.
Regardless of whether they were pro or anti cloned food, a huge majority (83% EU average, 81% in the UK) said that cloned food would need to be clearly labelled.
Overall, therefore, this huge study of over 25,000 people across 27 countries indicates that EU consumers are very worried about the idea of cloned food. The findings echo other research both in the UK and abroad, and show pretty conclusively, regardless of where people might stand on cloning from ethical, health or safety perspectives, that as of today cloning for food is not a commercial runner.
Good.