Debate over lab-grown meat: Farmers worse off, but environment benefits

There has been outrage for years over the huge impact the meat industry has on our planet and global warming. but one possible solution has sparked a very mixed debate.

Lab-grown meat, also dubbed ‘clean’ meat, has gained popularity recently, with celebrities, such as Bill Gates and Richard Branson, throwing their weight behind the initiative. Rather than taking meat straight from dead animals, it is instead grown from stem cells that are harvested via a biopsy from living animals.

It has already won huge favour with vegetarians protesting the mass slaughter of livestock, as well as environmentalists campaigning against the impact those slaughters have on global warming, and the environment as a whole. In fact, according to one study by Oxford University, it could lower harmful greenhouse emissions by as much as 96 per cent.

However, it could also mean a drastic change to the farming industry as a whole – and if it were to take off, it could mean huge job losses – so is it a good idea, or not?

The debate doesn’t end there, and Australian regulators will also be faced with the challenge of whether the lab-grown product can actually be called ‘meat’ at all. The US Cattlemen’s Association recently filed a petition to the US government, asking for a legal definition of beef and meat.

They argue, for a product to be labelled as beef or meat, it should come from “the tissue or flesh of animals that have been harvested in the traditional manner”.

In Australia, meat is defined as “the whole or part of the carcass if slaughtered” of “any animal”. While some lab-grown meats will technically use part of the animal, if they’re cultured from a cell, many argue it can’t be seen to meet that definition.

According to Josh Tetrick, CEO of clean meat manufacturer JUST, the first lab-grown ‘meat’ products could be available for human consumption within months. He told CNN it will start with chicken nuggets, sausage and foie gras.

However, he pointed out in a separate interview that many regulatory guidelines would need to be met first, and Mosa Meat, the company behind the world’s first cultured hamburger, agreed and estimated it would take about three years for guidelines to be met.

There are also concerns over the safety of eating meats grown in a lab. The FDA said in a statement previously: “Given information we have at the time, it seems reasonable to think that cultured meat, if manufactured in accordance with appropriate safety standards and all relevant regulations, could be consumed safely.”

While the cost of the process is expected to be lower in the long-run, the initial start-up phase will be expensive compared to the meat industry, which already has slaughter houses and equipment around the world.

Animal rights group PETA have been calling for production of ‘clean meat’ for years, and previously said in a statement on its website: “We believe it’s the first important step toward realising the dream of one day putting environmentally sound, humanely produced real meat into the hands and mouths of the people who insist on eating animal flesh.”

Would you be interested in eating lab-grown meat? Or does it seem to weird to you?