Burgers from a lab? US study says it's possible 06 Jul 2005 21:20:39 GMT, Source: Reuters

[Guest guest]

The technology to grow meat from tissue culture has existed for a

long time, but this is the first time (to my knowledge) that the

process has been seriously discussed as a commercial prospect. If it

succeeds, it would save billions of animals per year from the misery

of slaughter, not to mention the abuses of animal agribusiness. No

matter how hard we try to convert the masses to vegetarianism, with

global population growth outstripping our efforts to reach people

" one at a time, " it's going to take one or more generations just to

reach the point at which the percentage of vegetarians is equal to

the percentage of confirmed carnivores. If, in the meantime, meat

for the masses can be grown from tissues collected from animals who

would be slaughtered for meat anyway, animal rights advocates should

rejoice.

Kim Bartlett

 

 

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N06702090.htm

Burgers from a lab? US study says it's possible

06 Jul 2005 21:20:39 GMT

Source: Reuters

WASHINGTON, July 6 (Reuters) - Laboratories using new tissue

engineering technology might be able to produce meat that is

healthier for consumers and cut down on pollution produced by factory

farming, researchers said on Wednesday.

 

While NASA engineers have grown fish tissue in lab dishes, no one

has seriously proposed a way to grow meat on commercial levels.

 

But a new study conducted by University of Maryland doctoral student

Jason Matheny and his colleagues describe two possible ways to do it.

 

Writing in the journal Tissue Engineering, Matheny said scientists

could grow cells from the muscle tissue of cattle, pigs, poultry or

fish in large flat sheets on thin membranes. These sheets of cells

would be grown and stretched, then removed from the membranes and

stacked to increase thickness and resemble meat.

 

Using another method, scientists could grow muscle cells on small

three-dimensional beads that stretch with small changes in

temperature. The resulting tissue could be used to make processed

meat such as chicken nuggets or hamburgers.

 

" There would be a lot of benefits from cultured meat, " Matheny said

in a statement. " For one thing, you could control the nutrients. "

 

Meat is high in omega-6 fatty acid, which is desirable, but not in

large amounts. Healthful omega-3 fatty acids, such as those found in

walnuts and fish oils, could be substituted.

 

" 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, " Matheny said.

 

Raising livestock requires million of gallons of water and hundreds

of acres of land. Meat grown from tissue would bypass those

requirements.

 

The demand for meat is increasing worldwide, Matheny said. " China's

meat demand is doubling every ten years, " he said. " Poultry

consumption in India has doubled in the last five years. "

 

Writing in this month's Physics World, British physicist Alan

Calvert calculated that the animals eaten by people produce 21

percent of the carbon dioxide that can be attributed to human

activity. He recommends people switch to a vegetarian diet as a way

to battle global warming.

 

" Worldwide reduction of meat production in the pursuit of the

targets set in the Kyoto treaty seems to carry fewer political

unknowns than cutting our consumption of fossil fuels, " he said in a

statement.

 

The Kyoto treaty is a global agreement aimed at reducing production

of so-called greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide that help fuel

global warming.

 

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>Well, I've read Margaret's book and the poorly written wire article

>referenced: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N06702090.htm

>and have these opinions and comments, the first being a quote from Bill the

>Cat: ACK!

>

>Next, Oryx and Crake sci-fi has existed for decades in Asia and even in

>one Chinese Veggie restaurant in Philly, where soy products are sculpted

>into meat dishes and when done well, no one can taste the difference. This

>culinary technology has had negligible impact on global warming however

>(see British physicist Alan Calvert's comment in the Reuter's wire).

>

>The thought of producing genetically-mutated sheets of lab-grown meat

>products (even if this theoretical PHD Thesis is possible) is just

>as repulsive

>as producing the genetically-mutated animals we have today, although the

>slaughtering cessation of millions of animals has a hopeful note. However,

>the cells must come from some poor cow somewhere no? Think of the

>years (perhaps decades) of lab research needed to make this a reality,

>and of the additional domestic animals that would " be part of " in that

>research. Then there is the expense of this research to be born by the US

>taxpayer.

>

>But one can't tell from the article if this is all more sci-fi then

>sci-fact, and if I

>were writing the novel this plot twist would come about as the last living

>cows were being cloned and compacted into " cell packs " to keep the

>McDonald's Moon Base population happy with meals. (Meanwhile, Earth is

>a barren hot rock with only one Burger King left standing).

>

>And after just returning from the Asia for Animal's conference in Singapore,

>and meeting hundreds of hard-core animal activists (lovely people), I doubt

>this approach would seem remotly reasonable to them. What might be

>reasonable (and I will copy this group to verify) might be to repurpose

>global farming into soy-like products (or others)that resembled the taste and

>texture of meat, as a way to wean the world hunger from real flesh. If it is

>true that vegtable production is better then meat production for the world's

>health (and I persoanlly have no way of knowing, as I am a cartoonist and

>not a scientist) then this seems a reasoanble way to go. Of course this

>would take the cooperation of world goverments, global corps, and many of

>the actual inhabitants of the planet. If one looks at the Kyoto process for an

>example of sucj cooperation needed, I'd say this won't happen in this

>lifetime, nor the next (but maybe the one after?).

>Cheers,

>JiggyMutt, ANPO Chair

>http://www.animalnepal.org

>

>

>

>bounce-shambhala [bounce-

>shambhala] On Behalf Of Gary Kellam, CHt.

>Wednesday, July 13, 2005 6:57 AM

>sangha talk

>Re: Lab Burgers

>

>Has anyone else read Margaret Atwood's " Oryx and Crake " ?

>

>In that future, 'chicky-bulbs' (drumsticks, thighs, breasts) are grown on

>genetically-modified plants. No pollution, no factory farms, no cruelty,

>no killing, no waste of resources, etc., etc.

>

>At 03:46 PM 12/07/05 -0600, Miles Parker wrote:

>>Sorry re: 1-post but I have to add that it does seem kind of creepy...

>>

>>On 7/12/05, Miles Parker <milesparker wrote:

>> > Well, if it made filet mignon as cheap as hamburger I wouldn't

>> > complain. Seriously I think there is (at least) one other issue that

>> > I've heard vegetarians mention - that meat products represented very

>> > expensive food as far as resources used goes. That is, one acre of

>> > crops can support n people whereas many less if that acre is used to

>> > support animals. (This ignores of course the fact that much grazing

>> > land is unsuitable for crop agriculture.) I'm sure someone out ther

>> > has the figures. I don't neccessarily agree with this POV, but I think

>> > it is an interesting one. Presumably lab-grown meat would have a

> > > significant effect on this issue but would not wholely out-weigh it.

>

 

--

Kim Bartlett, Publisher of ANIMAL PEOPLE Newspaper

Postal mailing address: P.O. Box 960, Clinton WA 98236 U.S.A.

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