"Scientists 'grow' meat in laboratory"
By Nick Britten, The Telegraph, 11/29/2009
"Why I'd happily eat lab-grown meat"
By Leo Hickman, The Guardian, 12/1/2009
Okay, so people may be getting a little too hyped up on the idea that meat was only just grown in the laboratory this week for the first time (we know different meats have been grown since 2005), but the media blew up on November 29 when the news leaked out- pork has been successfully grown in the Netherlands! The Dutch laboratory figureheaded by Willem van Eelen and lead by Mark Post, professor of physiology at Eindhoven University, has been at the forefront of in vitro meat research for years (van Eelen is commonly referred to as the "Godfather of In Vitro Meat") came up with this most recent stir. Although lab regulations forbid them from tasting their product, they think they may be close to "live meat" quality within five years. FIVE YEARS! Our kids may be raised on this stuff if they're successful!
"Soggy meat" or not, the market manifestation of this debate is looming, and we can't stop asking questions!
If we're going to start talking about in vitro pork at all, we need to start asking questions of specific consumer markets. What makes pork a good meat to focus our research on? Several groups forbid the consumption of pork (a "dirty" meat that could certainly benefit from the medical effects of lab sterilization), but will these objections hold once we've moved from the farm to the lab? How do kosher and halal groups stand regarding eating this meat? Meat product?
Although not necessarily an authority, I stumbled across this interesting blog from a synagogue in New York: http://newbroadway.blogspot.com/2008/05/in-vitro-meat-kosher.html (Seth Chalmer, New Broadway Synagogue, 5/3/2008)
How much can we see in vitro meat as the real thing? Do we ethically benefit from isolating the product from the animal? To what extent can religious groups oppose meat-consumption on the basis of upholding theological texts? What will happen, if as Seth Chalmer says here, all other populations have converted to eating solely in vitro meat, and followers of kosher and halal dictate are the only ones still eating in vivo meat? Will this stir further discrimination and social tensions?
As Kevin Slaten offers in "In Defense of Meat", the pork industry may not be worth targeting for in vitro meat production at all: http://experts.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/06/17/in_defense_of_meat (Foreign Policy, 06/17/2009)
If beef is the industry most in need of systematic revamping, should we be focusing our resources on meats such as pork and chicken? Is it sensible to maintain our traditional industries for all meats BUT beef? Who will set the guidelines for which animals are alright in the traditional system and which need to be petri dish-grown?
If in vitro becomes a feasible option, there will certainly be economic consequences to shifting the meat industry industry. Could we benefit from just giving our cows over to the lab or should this new technology override the traditional production of all animals? How do the farmers feel?
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