Here we see a journalist in its natural habitat, trying to foster a sense of outrage where none at all exists, in the hopes of luring its prey to share the article. If it succeeds, it will be rewarded with eyeballs aplenty, which, in the cold harsh winter, will prove critical to the success of its offspring.
"some animal rights activists[who?] argue it perpetuates an unhealthy obsession with eating animals."
I'd like to see a source on which "animal rights activists" this journalist is referring to. PETA? Random Twitter users?
You can find a small minority against literally anything if you go scrounging.
I've only been vegan for about 2 year now, but my current view is that meat is just gross. Being lab-grown only solves some ethical aspects, but is still gross.
Yes, agree that maybe some vegans would go back to eating meat if it was lab-grown. But my guess is that most vegans (anecdotal going from the ones that I know) would not eat lab-grown meat, just like people in general probably wouldn't eat lab-grown human meat. I mean, if human meat is 'no-go', why would animal meat be ok?
This is all from the perspective of being vegan for ethical reasons. If someone is vegan only for health or environmental reasons, then maybe they won't care so much. But my experience is that people that go vegan for health/environment quickly change to be more ethically focused.
> Cells taken from “source” chickens are cultured in a laboratory
And then there is also the discussion whether lab-grown meat actually resolves the ethical issues. I mean, in order to grow the meat the lab has to initially source some cells from animals. Any vegan for ethical reasons would oppose that.
Also, no - vegans for ethical reasons don't necessarily have to oppose sourcing cells from animals. For some it would be enough if the sourcing was done cruelty-free. But you're right that the ethical issue is still there and I'm certain that some people will be still opposed to that.
Ehh, I'm not so sure after having worked at a highly acclaimed Vegetarian/Vegan restaurant; they are both so calorie and fat deficient that they devour anything highly processed with as much saturated fats.
Which when solely looking at this from a chef's lens, and not the absurd typical Silicon Valley froth money-grab that lab grown meat is, it really projects itself out as a bad solution to a problem no one really expects to solve with their product. It diverts a lot of money into certain startups and makes for good Marketing and PR, but I've had impossible burgers and never really wanted to try it again as its something that never stood out as a better product. Burgers are such low hanging fruit, too; try making a stroganoff from tempe or seitan, its horrible if you've ever had the real thing.
I can tell you you right now that Livestock Ag has a critical role that cannot be displaced when done correctly, ironically to be able to maintain soil viability in fields where heavy feeding crops like tomatoes, or brassicas have to be rotated with to maintain viable yields for organic and biodynammic farms. Something these vegans and vegetarians are entirely oblivious about since most have never worked a day on a farm in their life, yet think they're 'part of the solution.'
Lab grown meat is just another one of those panacea sounding things you'd expect would be the norm in the 21st century, like a flying car, but are entirely impractical and only used to divert resources from more impactful things, like Farmer Education outreach that tells them about the monetary gains to be had from growing sustainably/organically and using seaweed in their feed to offset CH4 emission, and how to build sheds/barns to use that for syngas production and compost.
Eat Just has raised $220 million since its inception [0], just think about the amount of progress towards those ends we could have made with just the funds that one startup has raised.
0: https://agfundernews.com/singapore-grants-eat-just-worlds-fi...
Kind of harsh. There are a lot of vegetarian farmers in India, who I'm sure are not presumptuous enough to think they are 'part of the solution'. For some meat eaters the idea of vegetarianism brings out strong reactions. If you are guilty just deal with it. People have their own reasons for being vegetarian and most don't judge and don't care.
Granted, but it must be noted how dire the situation is in India's Ag program and its why they're out there protesting in Dehli due to the Government threatening their subsidies/price guarantees to just survive. But, I agree, vegetarian diets are far more common due to poverty than ideology outside of most developed nations.
I don't have strong reactions as a carnivore (omnivore, really) I have them as a former farmer, chef and a person that has an obsession with how broken the World's food supply is and how it affects Humanity/Society and our Ecosystem as a whole.
The truth is that most vegetarianism/veganism isn't more ethical despite the rhetoric as most vegetables are grown using conventional Ag practices and tons of inputs, using migrant labour that often results in a significant maladies for them. Furthermore harvesting of anything but a small scale garden will ensure that many animals are killed in the process as Ag machinery like combines are constantly catching up animals in the process. This happened to me several times.
My first year of apprentice in Biodynamic Ag was really eye-opening and even though that is the most holistic form of sustainable Agriculture, and often a mainstay for more affluent vegetarians and vegans in the EU, you soon realize that that reliance on solely a typical person's plant based diet has its own dire consequences--massive water use, contaminated soil due to pesticide usage and soil nutrient depletion to keep up with demand.
Whereas an omnivore diet can acquire those essential amino acids, fats, and proteins from a relatively low-impact and sustainable sources like chicken eggs.
In short, their is no perfect diet and a plant based one has lots of unintended consequences that go beyond just the person who chooses to be one. Obscuring the facts behind rabid and uninformed ideology isn't going to change that.
(not a representative sample of vegans in any cultural, demographic, or ideological group; does not necessarily reflect all global vegan public opinion)
However, this would depend heavily on how many animals, if any, are harmed to produce it. Lots of vegans won't eat the impossible burger and don't consider it vegan because one of the chemicals in it was tested on rats before FDA approval, even though the number of animals harmed is O(1) - i.e., the marginal amount of animals harmed from eating an impossible burger is 0. I'm vegan and think that view is idiotic but whatever.
I think there are two different categories of vegetarians, the one who do it for moral reasons and the ones who do it because meat is kinda icky.
For the first category, if the meat is produced in an ethical way (lab grown), then eating it is no problem. But lab grown meat is just the same as real meat so if you didn't want to eat it before, why would you want to eat the lab grown version?
A 1-3 split between the two categories seems to plausible as far as I can tell.
What are fish made of where you live?
The story I’ve heard from CSAs with ethically raised animals is that they all have stories of former vegetarians ordering meat from them, exclusively. So there’s at least a little flex in the other direction.
Or, you know, the journalist did their job and contacted relevant interested parties for comment, and included their perspective for the benefit of readers who would look for that perspective.