Meat-Jet Printer!?!..."Fighting Global Warming With Lab-Grown Meat"

[masmdu]

Hey vegetarians....Will you eat meat if it's cruelty-free, lab-grown meat...I know I will....MMMMmmmm.

I can't wait for the home version of this...Print out a T-Bone!


"Faux" meat biologically identical to real tissue but grown in the lab ... I referred to them as "meat-jet" printers, and argued that they could be the harbinger of the future emergence a new kind of cuisine: cruelty-free, waste-free, prion-free meats grown in the lab."

"In the June 29 issue of Tissue Engineering, researchers describe methods of mass-producing "cultured" meats: muscle tissues with the same taste, nutrients and texture of "real" meat, grown under controlled conditions in the lab. This wouldn't be fake meat made from processed vegetables, it would be cellularly identical to the flesh from livestock -- but no animal would be killed for its production."

The researchers -- from the US and the Netherlands -- aren't just talking about theory. They've started a non-profit company called New Harvest to develop cultured meat.

http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/003067.html

http://www.new-harvest.org/default.php

[bullimiami]

1. mmm chicky nobs.

[C_U_L8R]

2. soylent green

.. is people :-)

[salvorhardin]

3. I find this really exciting

And I never really thought I would see something like this in my lifetime. The implications for ending world hunger and easing environmental impact due to meat production are enormous.

Of course, this is still vaporware right now until its' brought to market but I'm willing to mark off one more item in the Star Trek vision of the future.

[BiggJawn]

4. Yeah, if ONLY it would cure hunger.

My fear is that "Meat-Jet" "meat" will have a really high boutique trendy-factor (much like ruined over-roasted coffee beans have gained) and thus will be an expensive novelty, at least until the patent runs out.

It freaks me out, frankly...Soylent Green.

[salvorhardin]

6. It probably will be just that in the U.S.

On the other hand, if people in the U.S. feel this is really close to being market ready (and it's not just a shell company designed to drum up investment capital) then you can bet that scientists in India and China will reverse engineer the process in short order after it comes out. Those countries are less likely to care about American patents and will do everything in their power to make sure technology like this isn't just a fad of the wealthy elite. I think too that the hacker potential is underappreciated. It is very easy for me to imagine an open source meat culture growing up around this technology.

Gotta say though that I have a hard time understanding why people would be freaked out about this. We're not talking about harvesting dead people to reprocess into food, but growing cell cultures in a factory process. Could it be used to grow human muscle tissue for meat? Sure, but I doubt that would happen for a couple of reasons.

First and foremost is the grossness factor. While I would say that logically there is no reason not to eat human flesh, the thought of doing so really turns my stomach.

Secondly, if a company wants this technology to be a market success they will produce what people want to spend money on, and that's beef, poultry, pork and fish. There's no market for human flesh, so why even try to create one.

Actually, this is where your boutique meat market may come into play. I'm sure there are going to be people who will pay exorbitant prices for trendy meats that are hard to get otherwise such as meats from endangered species or just plain exotic. It would not take too much of a leap of imagination to think that human meat might be one of those high-end botique meats that people might pay for. But is there anything wrong with that? It's not as if actual humans would be harmed in the process.

On edit: I wouldn't worry about that happening in the U.S. though since there's a third factor that will probably be fighting this technology tooth and nail -- the fundie Christians who will try to tell us that it's unholy for whatever reason.

[left is right]

9. I read once, a long time ago, in some piece of fiction

that has been mostly forgotten that the teeth of consumers of human meat (a k a cannibals) fall out at an astounding rate.

[beam me up scottie]

12. Human meat?

Hey, to a vegetarian, one animal carcass is the same as another.

[salvorhardin]

14. In light of the bizarre twist this subthread has taken

and since it's Autumn, I give you, for no reason relevant to the conversation...

Salvador Dali's Cannibalism In Autumn

[beam me up scottie]

15. NICE !

Although, I don't think I would have liked to visit the inside of that man's head.

[beam me up scottie]

8. I find it exciting as well.

For the reasons you cited as well as what this could mean for the plight of animals who are subjected to unspeakable cruelty.

Of course, you'll never convince the people who like to kill for fun but it's a step in the right direction.

[salvorhardin]

10. You're right!

I hadn't thought about that. I was thinking in purely economic and social terms, but yeah, in base humanitarian terms this could mean the end to animal cruelty just so humans can survive. As you pointed out though, there are those that enjoy killing for fun and that will never change and we'll still have the hunters who will argue that the deer herds et. al. will need to be thinned out (that may very well be true -- contraceptives for woodland animals anyone?). Also, touching on the boutique meat thing again, if this technology becomes wide spread you will see a boutique market emerge for "real" meat from honest-to-goodness-killed-dead animals.

[AlienGirl]

5. Will I? Probably not

I will have no ethical issue with it, but my body would probably reject it the same way it would other meat, and I fear puking more than anything else, so...no.

I would, however, buy it for Xen (my meat-lovin' boyfriend) and prepare it for omnivore friends (human and other).

Tucker

[justiceischeap]

7. As a vegan, no I wouldn't eat it

If it truly is biologically identical, then that means it will be pumped full of chemicals and I say no thanks.

Besides meat from a cow or meat from a dish, it's still gross--it's eating flesh and that's just not for me. I'd not eat any other living being, like my neighbor or my cats, why would I eat a genetic mutation of a living thing?

[Canuckistanian]

11. The chemicals wouldn't be needed

Most chemicals are there to promote growth and to strengthen immune systems of living, whole cows.

"Culturing" meat would mean that these things wouldn't be needed. Do they need chemicals to produce yougurt? No, the natural growth process is good enough.

Once you have the basic "recipe" for growing the tissue, all that would be needed are nutrients, which would be harmless. And viral and bacterial infections would be mostly eliminated.

[Occulus]

19. That's quite a logical leap you've got there. n/t

[beam me up scottie]

13. No.

Rotting flesh is still rotting flesh.

But I would be glad to see the end of factory farms.

[Leopolds Ghost]

16. Paging David Cronenberg... David Cronenberg, get me re-write. n/t

[Elidor]

17. Fake meat, oh, YUM!

:puke:

[WindRavenX]

18. No

I will chose to get my protein from soy.

[NancyG]

20. hufu

mmmmm for your Donner Party.

http://eathufu.com/