What if future vegetarians eat lab meat?

[Guest guest]

I agree with Tony. I doubt most people who are already vegetarian will be interested in going back to eating meat - although there will be a small percentage, of course, who will.

 

But synthetic meat will definitely be a good thing because meat-eaters will have absolutely NO EXCUSE anymore to contribute to the cruelty of traditional meat. There will be a few holdouts that claim the "real thing" still tastes better, even if blind taste tests prove otherwise. But when you really get down to it eating animal-grown meat will finally be recognized as the cruelty that it is. It will take a few decades to get to that point, but it will happen.

 

In the long run, synthetic meat will probably take over the market and animal-grown meat will become increasingly rarer, based purely on economics. It will obviously be alot cheaper once the methods are perfected to produce meat in a lab. Cutting out the animals will not only get rid of the cruelty, but also alot of the expense (food, time, farm labor, etc.). Eating animal-grown meat will become a luxury for the rich, and will eventually go away entirely.

 

I'm sure new terms will come about. You certainly couldn't call synthetic meat eaters vegetarians - after all, it's still meat, and cruelty isn't the only reason people go vegetarian. The term that comes to mind for me is "moral meat eater."

 

-Mike Borg

Tony Martin <tony wrote:

Scientists are growing meat in the lab. It is expected to be commercially available in the near future.Meat, from no animal. Cruelty free flesh. Some vegetarians already eat 'fake' meat, is lab meat the natural evolutionary step or is it out of bounds? My gut feeling is that current vegetarians will want nothing to do with it.But what if other people start eating this meat as an easy way to avoid animal cruelty, can they be called 'vegetarian' or will a new term have to be invented for them?If you missed the story a few weeks ago, here it is:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4148164.stmtony______________________"All beings tremble before violence. All fear death, all love life. See yourself in others. Then whom can you hurt? What harm can you do?" - Buddha

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[Guest guest]

When we get to the point where labs can culture meat and it's a viable, mass-produced option, I have to wonder if the improvement in faux alternatives will also keep pace and continue to improve. Some of the current faux meats are so darn "meaty" now that many veggie people don't like them because they're too real.

 

So, in that blind taste test, maybe the faux meat will win! From a health perspective, faux meat may have a slight edge still since its cholesterol-free.

 

Anyways, wanted to point out that Mark H wrote an article on this very topic for Satya Magazine in their September issue. This is one of the issue that they kindly sent us and we distributed at our Anniversary party earlier this month. If you missed it, their articles are archived online and you can find this specific article at

http://satyamag.com/sept05/hawthorne.html

 

Cheers,

Tammy

 

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[Guest guest]

I see the topic of cultured meat has come up again and I thought I'd add my 2

cents.

 

>Scientists are growing meat in the lab. It is expected to be

>commercially available in the near future.

 

Yes. You can watch the developments and get emailed updates from

www.new-harvest.org

 

>Meat, from no animal. Cruelty free flesh. Some vegetarians already

>eat 'fake' meat, is lab meat the natural evolutionary step or is it

>out of bounds? My gut feeling is that current vegetarians will want

>nothing to do with it.

 

Actually, as a vegan, I am eagerly awaiting it's becoming widely available.

This is because I don't have any problem with meat per se, but rather with the

suffering endemic in its production. The issue that the veg. community will

still need to be diligent and vocal is making sure that the animals from which

the initial cells are collected are kept in as humane and benign an environment

as possible. If I can't be sure the seed animals are kept e.g. in an idyllic

farm situation and well cared for, I will probably still shy away.

 

When such cultured meat becomes available I may probably eat it now and then,

not every day, just as one ought not smoke fine cigars and drink brandy every

day but only now and then as a special treat.

 

And in reference to the recent discussion of vegan's pets: As you know, it is

widely believed that cats must eat meat to survive, and thus many otherwise

vegan cat owners do feed their cats meat. Properly nutritous vegan cat food is

available (two brands: VegeCat/vegeKit and Evolution) but evidence suggests that

these don't taste quite as good to cats as 'the real thing.'

 

With the development of cultured meat, cats will get to enjoythe meat that they

trulylike and are internally adapted to digest without the moral dilemma of

having to kill numerous feed animals to feed one cat.

 

The real question is: will the general public accept it? With the public

hysteria over anything technological in food production (irradiating food, GMOs,

and even microwave ovens not too long ago) won't cultured meat be just one more

item to be avoided (or banned by meddlesome governments) in favor of 'all

natural' 'traditional' meat? You can bet the meat industry will play this up

(and use it to influence politicians) to try to keep cultured meat producers out

the the marketplace.

 

-DG