PETA Pledges 1M for In Vitro Meat and Michael Pollan at Yale

[jondavidgriffin]

wont this development lead to the extinction of the cow? its not like we can look forward to an era where herds of wild cows will be seen galloping through the countyside

[B4IRUTUARU16]

BRING ON VITRO MEAT !!!!!!!!!!!!!

[TheCenturion1]

How can you tell if you're served an in-vitro or a meat from a once-breathing creature? Any difference with regards to taste, texture or appearance?

[joy1ess]

what a bogus study. the gender of a child is entirely dependent on the father's sperm that makes its way to the ovum, and certainly not on a mother's diet.

[AlexFolland]

I love meat. I also love animals. In vitro meat fixes my ethical concerns with eating meat.

"plays with nature in an unusual way"? What are you talking about? I think any logical person would agree that any negative ethical concern about in vitro meat is nonsensical.

[TheCenturion1]

@AlexFolland "I love meat. I also love animals"

Sure, we can't love both. If you are to love one, you're forced to hate the other. I love animals so I despise eating meat.

[AlexFolland]

@TheCenturion1 That's clearly not true, considering one can have meat without harming animals. That was the point of my comment and the point of developing in vitro meat. It's not hard to understand.

[TheCenturion1]

@AlexFolland I feel you AlexFolland. Anyway, I'm looking forward seeing no animal suffering while having all the meat we want (not need ; of course, we know that there's a big difference between killing to survive and killing for a delicious treat. I still can post comments here without eating meat.)

[thestreetsempty]

Uh, I'm sure their efforts in producing "in vitro meat" will involve much animal research. Peta always manages to hurt animals. Why is this. Anyway, we don't need meat. There are already vegan meat alternatives. I don't get it. That much money could go to so many better things.

[pcbb01]

my fear is "what kind of meat" really is grown in-vitro....well, if you can grow cow or pig meat....you can do the same with....well...HUMAN MEAT!

[deskset24]

To the brainless shit head who dares to blame Peta for euthanizing animals -

what about the ASPCA and millions of animal shelters around the world?

They euthanize MILLIONS more animals than Peta ever has!

And, who's to blame? The BILLIONS of FUCKHEADS who won't vote for Green Party politicians or politicians who will put ANIMAL RIGHTS at the head of their agenda and OUTLAW breeding of cats & dogs!

But unpatriotic cowardly shitheads need this fact blowtorched into their brains.

[deskset24]

... than to needlessly torture & murder innocent cows & turkeys & chickens & pigs just to keep one's cat or dog alive. Currently, we are forced to euthanize our pets as the only choice if we don't want them to starve to death.

Instead of yapping about hypothetical problems for a technology that is unfortunately way in the future, why not help by doing the hard difficult thankless mathematical and scientific research to make it possible?

My life's goal is that PETA X-Meat prize.

[deskset24]

First, it's pronounced pee-tah, like the bread.

Secondly, this drive to grow cultured/synthetic/artificial meat is the single most important practical applied fundamental scientific and engineering problem in the history of the world: how to get life to feed minimally off of life. All other human activities are worthless by comparison, including bullshit trivia about health. Pigs, cows & chickens want to live just as much as cats & dogs do. Better to feed cats & dogs artificial meat...

[chrono4203]

The fact that peta puts to sleep thousands of animals by freezing them makes me not like anything they do. They use sex and propaganda which just hurts an other wise worth while cause . If you want to help animals the ASPSA is the way to go. Its the largest and best way to help animals. I am a member its free =).

[rajnicat]

I would never eat in vitro meat as I don't just avoid meat for ethical reasons, but in vitro meat could provide the perfect solution to feeding cats meat without any guilt or health worries about what exactly is in your cats food.

[duck24x]

My #1 passion in life is to win this Peta X-Meat Prize. Figuring out how to minimize life feeding off other life is the most important PRACTICAL scientific-engineering problem of our age.

Breeding animals - billions of vegetarian cows, pigs, chickens and turkeys each year - should have been outlawed long ago, with heavy prison sentences (obviously, with the specific exception of minimal breeding necessary for the biotechnology to synthesize meat). All other causes are trivial by comparison.

[sifer72]

I thought of a funny thing that would come from this process. If this became the new way meat was produced then the demand for cows would be less. So, if the demand for this product grows so great. We would drive an animal to extinction by not eating it. Since there is no point in raising an animal you can't sell its meat on the market

I just love how life just hits people with its irony's.

[thermoregulator]

So you think that we are doing cows a favor by eating them and their products??? Cattle are domesticated versions of wild animals so they didn't occur "naturally" anyway.

Plus, there is probably always going to be a demand for animal-grown meat so they will never go "extinct" and I'm nearly 100% sure that cows and other domesticated farm animals will be preserved at zoos, on private farms, etc.

[SVBarnard]

This is a great idea!!! In vitro meat will save billions of animals every year once its perfected. I wouldnt mind eating in vitro meat at all if I could not tell a thing from regular meat and if it didnt harm me in any way. IN VITRO MEAT ALL THE WAY!!!!

[GoodJokeGoneBad]

Playing-God FTW!!!

Fuck nature - She lets baby lions get eaten by snakes in the wilds and all that shit. We need to use whatever we can get our hands on to end suffering on our planet -> If you've got a problem with that, then stop using razors and go live in a pile of mud.

[duck24x]

@GoodJokeGoneBad I agree!

Fuck nature. The problem with naturalists and preservationists is - they do NOTHING to minimize the suffering - to free BILLIONS of animals tortured and murdered in fur farms, factory farms and laboratories.

Naturalists have NEVER UNIQUELY DEFINED WHAT "BEST" means. WHY is a land overrun by ants (or whatever) "worse" than one with a mixture of species? Worse FOR WHOM?

It is only INDIVIDUAL sentient beings that know suffering.

[rayj778]

I'd eat in vitro meat.

[seanotube85]

I think in vitro meat is a great idea, as long as it doesn't end up causing any unforeseen genetic disorders or diseases etc. If it tests out well in the long run, then sure, I'll jump on board.

[nukleopatra88]

I have mixed thoughts on in vitro meat: 1) an increase in cheap food could mean an unnecessary increase in population; 2) in vitro meat could, theoretically, end the suffering of animals. An argument against in vitro meat is that man shouldn't be playing "God" but that's all I see Him doing.

[SVBarnard]

In vitro meat is a great idea i hope it works out cause BILLIONS of animals are slaughtered every year. I hope in vitro meet works out cause its a good thing. And i understand your concern about global population rising but look at the bigger picture would ya. We are going to be colonizing other places like mars and the moon and space itself in the next 100 years so i really dont think it matters that if we have a population boom. Someday i hope humans number in the TRILLIONS across the universe

[thermoregulator]

Hasn't man played God for millenia? Where do you think we got all our domesticated animals from. They were genetically manipulated to form tamer, more fleshy variants of their wild cousins through artificial selection.

Modern dogs came about the same way. So did corn, haha.

So I don't think we can really argue about humans' God complex.

[PAyankee]

yea ur right 1 million isnt enough thats why people should call their representatives and ask them to support funding for more research in this area. If we don't move fast we'll be looking at environmental collapse in a couple decades

[easternslavic]

1 million dollars is barely enough to do health tests. PETA can shove 1 mill up their ass.

[praling]

its not frankenmeat and its not weird. if ur uncomfortable with it, think of it like this: you have a raw steak, except instead of eating it you keep it alive and grow it so you have a bigger steak, then u eat it. its absolutely the same jus bigger. no fookin mystery at all, and weve already made in vitro meat a while ago, its just that its so UNHEARD of, that when i came up w/ the idea on my own i thought it was amazing other people hadnt (they had). example of convergent evolution of thought.

[alejandraadrianac]

artificial meat great!!!excelent!!no sickness or parasites no hormones to grow the animal ,no vaccines!!tasty and clean meat.much cheaper than the other and no death.i wonder if isnt best to do meat from humans in stead.can be better tolerated by the body and more compatible maibe a ambrosia of the eternal youth?

[jortylbro]

I don't really see how in vitro meat is ethical. Apparently, animals extracts are still needed during the production. Fetal calf serum, for example, may be required for the cell cultures to grow. Doesn't this require the confinement and artificial insemination of female cows? Forced pregnancy in captivity is still abuse in my book. =P

[easternslavic]

They do it now as it is. Why not spare them death at least?

[jortylbro]

Why not spare them of all forms of abuse and torture?

[easternslavic]

Because people eat meat.

[jortylbro]

You missed the point.

[ImTheRiffRaff]

...and growing/harvesting grains and beans and vegetables kills untold millions of animals each year. Eating the in vitro meat instead of a substitute like soy would actually save lives.

[jortylbro]

I realize that problem too, and that industry needs to be changed. I tend to avoid soy myself. However you still miss the point of why I am opposed to in vitro meat. No cows should be abused in such a way.

[SVBarnard]

DUDE!!!! In vitro meat does not harm animals in any way you dolt!!!! They can take cells from the animal without harming it or killing it so shut up!!! On the contrary in vitro meat will help to save the enviroment and it will save billions of animals from being slaughtered and tortured every year. IN VITRO MEAT ALL THE WAY!!!!

[nukleopatra88]

From what I know. in vitro or laboratory-grown meat is grown independently of an animal. It's not the same process as in vitro pregnancies. :p

[jortylbro]

But from my understanding, in order to grow the meat, they use embryonic stem cells from impregnated cows. I could be mistaken though and maybe they can grow these without the use of animals, once they have a sample.

[nukleopatra88]

Well, that's what I'm not entirely certain of. According to wikipedia research is relatively new. But I do know that stem cells can be harvested without doing any harm to the animal.

[pcbb01]

@nukleopatra88 it doesnt concern embryos and fetuses....its very simple actually, get a muscle fibre(meat) from a particular animal then infuse it with proteins for it to grow and bwala, your very own steak

[SailorBarsoom]

There won't be "weird amorphous frankenmeat" because the people in marketing know that that won't sell (and public pressure may even get FDA involved). So what you'll get is something indistinguishable from any other boneless cut of meat.

As far as "plays with nature in an unusual way" goes, it could hardly be more unusual or less natural than factory farming today. That Big Mac didn't grow on a tree in an undisturbed rainforest.

[HiAdrian]

Definitely an interesting field of research. If this proves to be efficient one day, there'll probably be hundreds of types of meat to choose from, affordable, and un-contaminated and most importantly: ethical.

The people who make this happen and replace conventional meat-farming, are gonna change the world like very few have, it is central to human civilization.

[BetterThanUForSure]

it is a good idea because free the animals from suffering. I feel is possible with compounds, someone will these days so we can no longer witness animal cruelty. NO TO ANIMAL CRUELTY!

go search "Meet your Meat" , if a compound is discovered than can allow us to have meat like product, whatever is on that video (meet your meat) will be GONE. Animal cruelty will just be party of history like SLAVERY.

[seanotube85]

that's freakin awesome! bring on the frankenmeat! hell, if it tastes like regular meat, and animals don't have to die for it, why not? The meat industry's pretty fucked up as it is. Imagine McDonalds/Burger King no longer having to chop down rainforest to satisfy fatass midwesterners?

[cupies]

peta sucks! i personally believe that killing animals for any reason, including for food is horrible. If your in a life or death situation eat that meat, but ending a life for pleasure is insane!!! im a 80%raw vegan, my favorite food is steak, but won't ever eat it

[SVBarnard]

Are you retarded? In vitro meat does NOT harm or kill animals in any way!!! On the contrary it will help the enviroment and it will save billions of animals every year. In vitro meat is meat that is grown in a tube without the animal. You should do more research on this subject cause obviously you dont have a clue!!!!!

[jortylbro]

Did you even read what I said? They need to keep impregnated cows in order to get the embryonic stem cells in the first place. I agree it is better than factory farming, however you are distorting the truth when you say it doesn't harm animals and that it will help the environment.

In vitro meat is not a viable alternative to meet the same demand factory farming provides for and so it is a distraction from the real issue. It is a lazy option to assume the market will sort it out on its own.

[fludblud]

its not a viable alternative...yet.

but instead of whining about ethical issues, you should see it from an economic perspective.

once established, in-vitro meat would revolutionise agriculture like never before, huge tracts of land used for cattle grazing could be used to grow crops instead and end world hunger while the consumer would have access any kind of meat they want.

the potential benefits for humanity are incredible and as a bonus, the anmals dont suffer as much.