How Close Are We to Test Tube Meat?
The VSS eNewsletter has previously reported research into producing
test tube meat. According to one article –http://www.scrippsnews.com/node/64439 –
science fiction may become reality within a year: "[S]cientists in
the U.S. and Europe are competing furiously to bring lab meat to
market. Many predict it will be ready to sell in supermarkets and
restaurants within six months to a year and vendors are lining up
to buy it".
Is this good news? Maybe. The same article quotes the
New Yorker magazine as stating that, "The global livestock industry
is responsible for nearly 20 percent of humanity's greenhouse-gas
emissions. Cattle consume nearly 10 percent of the world's
freshwater resources, and 80 percent of all farmland is devoted to
the production of meat. The consequences of eating meat, and our
increasing reliance on factory farms, are almost as disturbing for
human health".