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Last-ditch talks on how the European Union regulates animal cloning are at risk of collapse.

MEPs look set for a bruising confrontation with member states and the European Commission when the EU institutions gather on Monday night (28 March) in an attempt to fix rules on animal cloning – the process of making genetic copies.

This is the final chance to break the deadlock, as EU rules require that talks must be wound up by 29 March, exactly eight weeks after the arbitration process began.

Positions remained entrenched when the most recent talks broke up last week (17 March). The European Parliament continues to press for a ban on meat and milk from cloned animals and their descendants. Member states and the Commission support a ban on food derived from first-generation clones, but they insist it would be impossible to extend this to food from clones' offspring. National governments are especially worried about onerous rules that would be difficult to enforce, and the Commission fears retaliation from the EU's trading partners, as a ban on progeny would attract criticism under...