Hypothetically and forgetting for a moment any thoughts you might have about the possible health effects the consumption of laboratory made meat might have or any conspiracy theory anyone could come up with. Let's say after many years of in depth scientific testing, the creation of actual edible meat through the harvesting of animal muscle cells and then growing them in vitro into large enough levels to actually sell as meat - which it would be. Just not stripped off of a dead animal.
Would you be opposed to such a product and if not would you consume it?
It does seem to be a far more economical and environmentally sound way of processing large enough amounts of meat for an ever growing population. The product wouldn't be exposed to the effects of factory farming or the chemicals and hormones they use in that process and so depending on what they use in the laboratory the meat would be a cleaner product, of course as I say this would depend on what was used in the lab to promote the extra cell growth. It would also serve to put an end to the act of farming animals for their meat. Obviously that's not entirely true, farming will always be with us. But it might promote different avenues in which to buy meat products.
The science does not seem to be at a stage where producing a piece of meat ready to be mass produced but when is it, the final product will probably be different from the anything we're used to in terms of taste (maybe?) and look, lack of fat for one thing will probably be the most noticeable. Of course there are several downsides to this. Farming is one of the largest financial institutions in the US and many/most other industrialized nations. So it would be obvious to most that if this were to be successful there would be much opposition to it. And with the amount of financial clout the farming industry has you would think it would be in the best interest of those in power to support farming instead of using this method. Along with of course the concerns about what effect meat grown in a lab have on the body as opposed to that grown "naturally" on a farm. If you can call modern farming "natural". But I guess these arguments are for the time when there is actually something to argue about, an actual product.
There is much contemplation and research still to be done on this matter before this was even thought of being sold on the open market, although the technology seems to be already there ready to be put into production, it's just waiting for a company to put some money into it.
I am a meat eater and I find it to be an interesting concept and if the science can be made to work it would seem like a good idea for society as a whole, the reasons for which I have listed in earlier paragraphs. But what do you think. Is laboratory grown meat a good or bad thing? And if there are any vegetarians out there would meat produced in this way take away any or all of the moral objections you have towards eating meat, so much so that you would even eat it?
Here's the wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_vitro_meat
Would you be opposed to such a product and if not would you consume it?
It does seem to be a far more economical and environmentally sound way of processing large enough amounts of meat for an ever growing population. The product wouldn't be exposed to the effects of factory farming or the chemicals and hormones they use in that process and so depending on what they use in the laboratory the meat would be a cleaner product, of course as I say this would depend on what was used in the lab to promote the extra cell growth. It would also serve to put an end to the act of farming animals for their meat. Obviously that's not entirely true, farming will always be with us. But it might promote different avenues in which to buy meat products.
The science does not seem to be at a stage where producing a piece of meat ready to be mass produced but when is it, the final product will probably be different from the anything we're used to in terms of taste (maybe?) and look, lack of fat for one thing will probably be the most noticeable. Of course there are several downsides to this. Farming is one of the largest financial institutions in the US and many/most other industrialized nations. So it would be obvious to most that if this were to be successful there would be much opposition to it. And with the amount of financial clout the farming industry has you would think it would be in the best interest of those in power to support farming instead of using this method. Along with of course the concerns about what effect meat grown in a lab have on the body as opposed to that grown "naturally" on a farm. If you can call modern farming "natural". But I guess these arguments are for the time when there is actually something to argue about, an actual product.
There is much contemplation and research still to be done on this matter before this was even thought of being sold on the open market, although the technology seems to be already there ready to be put into production, it's just waiting for a company to put some money into it.
I am a meat eater and I find it to be an interesting concept and if the science can be made to work it would seem like a good idea for society as a whole, the reasons for which I have listed in earlier paragraphs. But what do you think. Is laboratory grown meat a good or bad thing? And if there are any vegetarians out there would meat produced in this way take away any or all of the moral objections you have towards eating meat, so much so that you would even eat it?
Here's the wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_vitro_meat
