Eating meat without killing animals now possible...
Apparently, some scientists have grown meat without the need to kill an animal. They just took a small sample of cells from a pig, and then made them multiply somehow. Quite interesting. Not only does this not require slaughtering animals, but it doesn't require a big farm out in the country since the meat is grown in a lab. There's probably a long way to go until this ends up in food products, but it's cool nonetheless! Maybe there will be some sort of DIY meat grower in the future.
I'd have to imagine running a mass lab of cultured meat would be worse for the environment than a bunch of farting cows... but at least this could make those PETA fools shut the hell up for once.
I'm not fully against eating meat as it is normally, although I am also not against this new idea. My first impression is it sounds horrid. But taste, nutrition and other factors are more important than a first impression. To be honest, imagine long ago when hunting was the only way to feed the community/family. Then someone comes up with the grand idea of 'growing' animals to eat. I am sure they were just as disgusted with that idea as it seems that a lot of people here are with this new idea.
People fear new. But this could be a great thing, if taste and nutrition can compare with true meat. It could be more efficient in feeding the billions of people in the world.
I highly doubt that growing meat in a lab can be done as cheaply and in as big numbers to nake it accessible to the starvging masses.
Also, I doubt it will reduce greenhouse gases, as I do think it's a very energy, thus ressource consuming process. A gram of meat still needs the same energy and materials to be produced in a lab as it would to grow on an animal.
From the moralic standpoint though, I do support that idea.
But keeping animals in fences isn't anything unnatural, early on the animals are fed with organic materials, later on some extra minerals are added but the sources are mostly organic.
Things start to go wrong when people fed livestocks hormones and chemicals, genetic engineering is dangerous as well, the side effect of eating food grown under heavy chemical manupulation is evident, so how can we believe food produced almost 100% artificially would be safe?
It's not about impression, it's the very fact that you won't be eating pork, but a self multiplying piece of pig cells that probably don't have a digestive and respiratory system, and all the thing "fed" to it simply went through tubes.....
I'll rather not eat meat than eat something like this, it's sad enough that in most western developed countries kids have never saw a living chicken, while happily eating whatever rubbish is sold in KFC.
Animals are there for using them as food, that's the nature itself, in the same way they eat each others, so from my point of view is almost pointless. Almost because in case there were scarcity or something could be a solution for some people, but only as an alternative if necessary.
I'm an animal lover and I've seen the documentary called "Earthling" (must see) and of course the processes they use for killing animals are intolerable, but in some others the animal does not suffer so there is no problem using them.
It's most certainly a proof of concept that will make its way into medicine, but nowhere else... Just think what huge step forward it'll be if tissue can be grown from your own cells...
But imagine all the people out of work because of this and then all the animals killed needlessly because of over population... Not many people will keep pigs that aren't going to be making them any money.
Indeed. If we stop eating cows and pigs they'll become extinct. It'd be quite ironic if this technology wipes them out if its intention was to save them.
I'm sure it's just another quite interesting experiment that'll be decades from making it out of the lab, if it does at all.
Another problem with meat is that it's a wasteful way to produce nutrients. Growing plant proteins uses far less natural resources. But maybe this test-tube meat is more efficient than an animal that's standing around. Feed the world synthetic hamburgers. (Or perhaps McDonald's are already doing so? :schwitz
And consider the culinary possibilities that it opens. Hannibal Lecter will be sooo happy!
if it did happen I reckon it would be used like an additive i.e. you'd still have a majority of the meat product being real animal and the lab grown meat is used to pad it out a bit.
In theory this means that there's a happy medium and hopefully because 100% real meat products would be sought after, the price of livestock will go up thus earning farmers more money- plus if there's less need for grazing land, the excess can be used for growing crops or other food stuffs.
I would have no problem eating the lab grown meat as long as the taste and texture is as close to the real thing as possible and I know it's at least as safe as eating the real thing.
Just happy that I know the names of each and every one of my steaks and hamburgers. There was Buttercup, Firefly, Bear, Butterfly.... My kids have seen the majority of them born, named each one, fed them, have petted them, and then we eat them.
Yeah my dad put me through some pretty ****ed up shit when I young too, but at 35 I'm nearly over most of it. You won't have caused your kids that much lasting damage I don't think.
1) lab meat wont fart
2) a mammals body is rather ineffiecient when it comes to being nutricious im sure it would be extremely easy to improve on that
while what you say may be true in principle getting that amount of energy into the animal in the first place (and all the additional energy the animal needs to maintain a constant warm body temperature for the however many months until its slaughtered) is very very inefficient overall
3) fingers crossed were hopefully not that far away (read 70-200 years id guess) from near endless greenhouse free energy
also has anyone of you seen food inc or similar documentaries
not that i dont avoid the meat from companies show in such films but if i ever had to choose between a mass produced cow and meat grown in a lab i think id go for the lab one
