Okay, I’m not a vegetarian. I intend to kill animals for my food. Now that that’s out of the way, I’ll actually ask a General Question (imagine that … ).
To wit: What are the stands of the various animal rights groups (PETA et alia) on vat-grown meat? I have little interest in anyone’s personal opinion (I may or may not open an IMHO thread on that topic), but want the official positions of recognized animal rights groups, if such positions exist.
What is “vat-grown meat”? I’ve never heard of this.
Vat-grown is meat grown in a vat. Now that I’ve stated the blindingly obvious, I’ll go on. We can already grow skin cells alone, outside of a body. It would be a small step to grow just muscle tissue (the part of the animal called meat, for those of you who don’t realize meat comes from living things) in a similar nutrient-enriched environment. You could, conceivably, get muscle cells to start the colonies in a minimally invasive way that leaves the animal alive. Would meat grown in a vat be considered cruelty-free for labelling purposes?
Bill Cosby - “Chicken Heart” - nothing more needs to be said - start smearing that jello!!
If the original cells were obtained from an animal killed with a mimimum of cruelty, and if the cell mass is not connected to a brain (no brain, no pain), I’d say it’s cruelty-free, except that the very idea may make some people sick to their stomachs. Whether it would be Kosher is a more interesting problem, since the Orthodox are forbidden to eat “the limb of the living”, such as the “calf fries” George W. gobbles. Would the meat mass be “alive”? Still, a creepy idea.
Let me ask this question: How much would “vat-grown” food cost?
What is cheaper, do you think, paying for animals, such as chicken eggs (cheap), the cost of incubators (not very sophisticated equipment), a chicken coop, and chicken-chow (cheap, again) OR the costs of establishing a cell biology lab or factory to grow the muscle cells in vitro? With all the expenses of cell culture.
I don’t see how cell biology would be a more economically feasible answer to farming in the forseeable future.
The dollar is what drives this (and the fact that poor people need to be able to buy cheap protein sources).
It would be great if we didn’t need to kill other organisms to eat, but we’re not photosynthetic.
How many dollars is PETA willing to fund for vat-grown food (I really don’t know) and all the research that would be needed to set it up? Why don’t they put their money where their mouth is?
boggle I don’t believe anyone claimed PETA or any other group supported this idea. So I would hold off any demand to pony up the dough until it actually makes a little sense, kay? And of course there’s the fact that no one is obligated to fund every practice they don’t find entirely morally objectionable.
Over time, it’s possible that “vat-grown meat” could become produced in large enough quantities and become a common enough procedure that it could become economically viable. I’m a vegetarian, but I still wouldn’t eat it. I’ve become quite comfortable in my eating habits and wouldn’t want to sacrifice the health benefits of vegetarianism just to be able to enjoy foods that I’ve been quite content without for the last few years.
Tzel–I didn’t state that PETA advocated any of this. And I don’t disagree with your post.
My point was that it’s nice to be able say something would be a better option (say, not killing animals for meat, or running cars on some more efficient non-petroleum fuel source), but if it’s not economically feasible, will it happen?
The government does fund projects that no private business would touch. Would a private business have invested the capital to build an atomic bomb and then sell it to the US government to end WWII? No. Basic research that is funded by NIH also comes to mind. Growing meat isn’t going to happen in a lab when it’s much cheaper to farm. Moral issues aside.
It’s a luxury to to want something without paying for it. Wish in one hand and shit in the other…as the old saying goes. That’s why I mentioned putting your money where your mouth is.
Let’s leave the economics of this to the invisible hand of the marketplace and stick to the OP, please. What are the stances of various animal rights/advocacy groups on the prospect of such a product (assuming they have taken such a stance)?