July 10, 2005
Growing Meat
No, this doesn't have anything to do with porn, you sicko(s).* Scientists are working on ways to grow meat in vats:
In a paper in the June 29 issue of Tissue Engineering, a team of scientists, including University of Maryland doctoral student Jason Matheny, propose two new techniques of tissue engineering that may one day lead to affordable production of in vitro - lab grown -- meat for human consumption. It is the first peer-reviewed discussion of the prospects for industrial production of cultured meat."There would be a lot of benefits from cultured meat," says Matheny, who studies agricultural economics and public health. "For one thing, you could control the nutrients. For example, most meats are high in the fatty acid Omega 6, which can cause high cholesterol and other health problems. With in vitro meat, you could replace that with Omega 3, which is a healthy fat.
"Cultured meat could also reduce the pollution that results from raising livestock, and you wouldn't need the drugs that are used on animals raised for meat."
I wonder what effect this, provided it caught on, would have on vegetarianism. It seems like the ability to produce chicken nuggets and beef patties without killing any animals would eventually negate the reasons for vegetarianism (other than self-righteousness, of course).
*Assuming we have more than one reader.
Then we would set all the cows, chickens, and hogs free. Animals that this generation considered "farm animals" or "consumption animals" or "products" would become equal with the mountian lion, the spotted ocelot, and the birds in the sky. We would have zoos devoted entirely to cows, and future generations would laugh at our primitive barbarism.
What a day to be alive!
...anyway, that would be pretty cool.