News has bubbled into the mainstream over the past decade about scientists trying to grow meat in a petri dish for mass human consumption, to save us from our reliance on methane-releasing, grain-devouring, water-wasting livestock. But no one has quite presented the characters behind the movement as this month's issue of Scientific American. The article's conclusion? Growing meat on our own, in scientific labs, is doable–but a couple of huge problems are in the way from making it viable.
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Chief among them is the cost–much too much right now, with not enough grown to justify the costs. Nevertheless, these scientists point out that investment right now will save us much in resources in the future.
A more crucial factor, however, is what one scientists deems the “yuck response”–the idea that the general populace won't accept lab-grown meat that never came from a slaughtered animal. But another makes a perfect, if sad point: “We are far from what we eat…When we're eating a
hamburger, we don't think, 'I'm eating a dead cow.' And when people are
already so far from what they eat, it's not too hard to see them
accepting cultured meat.”
What a wonderful world! Anyhoo, great article–give it a glance!
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