Test-tube Meat, Vegetarianism, and Safety

http://www.animalrighter.org/Feature_Article.html

iMeat
How Lab-Grown Meat Could Revolutionize Vegetarianism and the World

Vegetarianism is at a cross-roads. Genetically engineered, not modified, but engineered food is on the horizon. According to this article by VegNews, test-tube meat could be on our plates by as soon as the year 2012. The time tables may not be that fast given that a test-tube steak is still science fiction, but it's a definite possibility. Here is where we can raise questions. What do we have to look forward to with engineering food?

The article, written in 2006, brings up a few interesting points about how we should think about this new "food". Since the piece caters to vegetarians, it discusses what the choices are behind this new technology. Is the meat okay to eat? It doesn't involve the slaughter of animals, it avoids the travel, and it can be created from a single cell. But it's still meat, and to get this to be socially acceptable is one of the challenges. The "yuck" factor is one issue raised in the article. Would people eat laboratory developed meat on the market? Or will the idea disgust us? (Is McDonald's meat less gross?)

Medically, this technology raises new issues. Safety for example. No longer would we worry about proliferating diseases among factory farm livestock like Mad Cow Disease. According to the article, there would also be less opportunity for bioterrorism within a laboratory setting. We would significantly cut down on pesticides, antibiotics, etc. getting into our air, land, and bloodstreams. However, how safe is the lab meat in the first place? What kind of chemical impact will this have on our food? Our environment? I think the most interesting impact will be on disease spread from animals to humans and if that will diminish.

Where does that leave us? These are only a few questions about this new technology. One question that was never posed is cost. We can feed the world with a single cell, but what would it cost, and can we afford it?

Cheers,

Jeam Team