It is interesting, but kinda wierd idea...

This is promising research. If it does work it may be possible for people to grow their own organs for transplant and without worry of tissue rejection. Lab meat may sound unappetizing but millions of people eat Spam daily.

"Animals need to grow, and animals produce many things that you do not eat."

Any ideas on what this process creates that we do not eat? What are the inputs? Are we still going to be funding mega corps if we buy into this product? Still too many questions about this edible skin graft technology.

Is it kosher?

LA: "Of the "beasts of the earth" (which basically refers to land mammals with the exception of swarming rodents), you may eat any animal that has cloven hooves and chews its cud. Lev. 11:3; Deut. 14:6. Any land mammal that does not have both of these qualities is forbidden. The Torah specifies that the camel, the rock badger, the hare and the pig are not kosher because each lacks one of these two qualifications. Sheep, cattle, goats, deer and bison are kosher."

a bigger question is- is it meat?

How disgusting and an insult to the our earth and its natural process-an earth the will most surely strike back against this as it has done to all other injustices against it. The world would be much better off if we all still lived like native people. Native people (ie: native Americans, Africans) ate meat yet were sustainable and preserved and respected the earth. There is nothing wrong with killing and eating animals as long as the above is practiced. It's just the cycle of life people. Everything dies, animals kill for food and humans kill for food (be it only plants). As long as it's done with respect and sustainability the earth continues to be nurtured and to be nurturing.

Insect/bugs raised at home as protein source.

There is a very simple solution to all of this. Stop eating meat. Humans were never meant to eat meat in the first place - our physiology corresponds with natures vegetarians, not carnivores.

Their heart is in the right place, but the answer is right under their nose. Making fake meat, when you don't have to make it at all.

Humans who eat meat consume way too much protein. A normal veggie diet is sufficient.

the problem with this (and related techniques, like growing "bodyless" skin in petri dishes to do topical testing, etc.) is that on a massive industrial scale what you a are doing is creating an animal ecosystem sans immune system. this could make antibiotic inputs neccesary at a massive scale (with the attendant conseuqences of massive antibiotic resistance) , or possibly produce a massive breeding ground for (animal oriented) pathogens.

cheerio
lexy-lou

Humans were never meant to eat meat in the first place - our physiology corresponds with natures vegetarians, not carnivores.

Oh, please. Were cavemen boiling tofu and munching on tree leaves?

If it tasted the same and the texture was the same, I'd eat it.

Oh, please. Were cavemen boiling tofu and munching on tree leaves?

My point exactly. Some people are so far removed from nature and our species' natural way of being and really need to wake up. The ratio of vegetables to meat eaten is greater in most native societies' diets and this is the way its always been-from day one, the original treehuggers. Westerners and Americans may eat too much meat at the expense of vegetables and starches needed but naturally humans were meant to be omnivores.

Who came up with this mess?! PETA?! Sorry ya'll. You must kill and skin animals to get real meat. Even if it was possible, would anyone eat it?

Neil said:

"Humans were never meant to eat meat in the first place - our physiology corresponds with natures vegetarians, not carnivores."

Au contraire. I think you'd find more than a few Inuit who'd disagree with you.

Humans have much simpler digestive systems than herbivores, and digest proteins in the form of meat very efficiently. Like chimpanzees, we are omnivores, born with canines, incisors, as well as molars. We eat anything that crosses our path, be it animal or vegetable.

Physiologically, we are equipped to be hunters. Our eyes are mounted on the front of our heads, giving us superior binocular vision -- not on the sides of our heads, like cows, for example. We more resemble wolves and lions (who are decidedly not herbivores).

Evolutionary anthropologists hypothesise that our large brains and ability to use sophisticated language arose as a result of our natural hunting social organization.

I don't know why anyone would get hysterical about synthetic meat, since it is no more "synthetic" than tofu or yogurt. Does tofu and yogurt occur naturally? No, they are technological manufactured products, like plastics, paper, gasoline, and aspirin.

Asking, "is it meat?" is a non sequitor. You might just as well ask if bread is wheat. Objections to this technology seem largely based on esthetics and an obsessive dislike and mistrust of technology and modernism, most often, I find, by (cough-cough) "artistic" types, who lead lives that are well-insulated from what it actually takes to survive in the world. But that's just my own experience.

Didn't NASA do something like this a few years back?

Ya it's not exactly new news. I remember reading about it at least a year ago. But it would be a good idea for space travel.

Some of you say this is not natural, I say, is it any less natural than raising animals on pesticides and hormones, depriving them of a natural life, performing painful procedures without the use of anesthetics, and then killing them to eat, not to mention, mass producing them as if they were machines??? I suppose, yes, the latter is a MUCH more natural solution. OF course.

Why is it that the will of modern man is to do whatever he chooses, no matter what may be the consequences, or without considering the consequences for that matter, just as long as he can continue living with the comforts he has come to enjoy and need as though they were entirely biologically essential? It is a sad, sad truth... oh how far humanity has come!

Wow. That's "eco-friendly." [retch]

Mike H said,
"Humans have much simpler digestive systems than herbivores, and digest proteins in the form of meat very efficiently. Like chimpanzees, we are omnivores, born with canines, incisors, as well as molars. We eat anything that crosses our path, be it animal or vegetable.

Physiologically, we are equipped to be hunters. Our eyes are mounted on the front of our heads, giving us superior binocular vision -- not on the sides of our heads, like cows, for example. We more resemble wolves and lions (who are decidedly not herbivores)."

I'm not claiming humans are herbivores, however you need to get your facts straight. Comparing humans digestive tract to say a cow(which is stupid since cows eat/digest grass, humans don't, so there is not point in comparing the two), yes it's simpler, however it's also more complex than some carnivore's digestive system. This doesn't support either argument.

Second, canines do not imply that an animal is a meat eater. Two examples, pandas and gorillas. Not to mention a gorilla's canines are far more impressive than the pathetic human canines. Track the history of canine evolution, and you'll realize the mistake in this claim.

Third, eyes don't denote a hunter either. You really need to look at a larger sample of predators and prey, not just cows and wolves and lions. Eyes in the front of the head are the result of arboreal life, one needs depth perception to live in trees, much like many predators need depth perception to hunt. There are a number of causes for certain physiological traits, and too many people are getting them confused.

Humans do have the ability to eat a wide variety of foods, including meat and many plants. So just leave it at that.

Hey everyone, want to hear the wild thing that happened to me after posting on this thread?

So, I'm the one who wrote "Is it kosher?" above.

Most of you probably recognized that as a joke.

But this morning I had this email waiting for me:

**************
From: Jack Mason
you've probably gotten quite a few emails regarding your post. i'll just say this: 7 billion people. our earth's human population come 2015. wake up.

of course native americans, tribal peoples all over the earth lived sustainably ... they had to.... but there was also only 250,000 of them AROUND THE ENTIRE EARTH at their peak.

again: 7 billion people. wake up.

go to a slaughterhouse and then get back to me.
******************************

So, I get this, and I'm like, wow, what is that about, I didn't even associate it with this post.

So I email back a short one sentence: "What are you talking about?"

The reply:

******************
"your posting at treehugger.com

you left your email.

if you don't know what im talking about after just posting then perhaps there is more wrong that right in your world."

****************************

Now, I'm still thinking "Is there some misunderstanding going on?"

And I write:

"But how does anything you said relate in any way to what I said?

My comment:
1. 3 words long
2. a joke.
3. attached to an article about lab grown meat.

How does that relate to your rant below?"

And the reply I receive:

**********************

"and again ... masturbation. have a good day."

***********************

At this point I of course realize that rational discussion with this person is not going to happen, and block him as a spammer from my email.

I'd love to know how this unstable person got my email. Does anyone else know who Jack Mason is, and if he is off his meds or something?

Alex

Humans are omnivores by nature, not carnivores and not herbivores. That means we are adapted to survive and thrive on a wide variety of diets. We are, however, adapted to eat mostly vegetables, while we can live with a diet that includes animal products as well if we need to.

So it's up to you to choose what you eat. Ideally you'd choose local, organic, sustainable, and socially responsible foods that give you the most nutrients for the least amount of energy spent, which pretty much means raw, fresh, veggies. But you do what you feel you need to do, and try not to get too upset when other people don't like what you eat, since being upset messes up your digestive system, and wastes all that good food you're eating, whatever species it is...

Sounds like Willy Bio, Alex. He's fond of speaking that way, including using the term "masturbation".

YES we are omnivores! We'd be able to digest the cellulose of plant cell walls if we were herbivores. Our appendix would not be a vestigial organ!

I think we do eat far more animal protein than we require though. And the way we mess with nature and our food is ridiculous. This is why I am a vegan, if my bones start to hurt from malnutrition though (which I doubt, I pay close attention to my diet and make sure I get what my body needs) I'm gonna go get some sushi. And I won't feel guilty.

I think rather than trying to grow meat in a lab this effort should instead be focused on trying to change the general population's opinion that meat has to be a part of every (giant) American meal.

Perhaps we need the veg advertising equivalent of 'got milk?' with a focus on the recent hot topic of environmental effects and not having to be a psycho PETA hippie to care (like this website does, love ya treehugger!) rather than a bunch of 'activists' burning down labs on university campuses that do agricultural research. (this happened on my campus, sigh...)

Hello.
Correct me if I am wrong but I learned,following our evolutionary process, we started as vegetarian tree-top dwellers. We only learned to eat meat after we went down from the trees and became scavengers from the left-overs that the carnivores hunted.
Thank you for taking my point into consideration.

This technology may be helpful to those addicted to the taste of meat, but nutritionally unnecessary as humans can thrive on better sources of protein & nutrients than meat. Yes, humans can be omnivores, but just because we can does not mean we should. Even if cavemen did eat meat, is that who we want to use as role-models?(my apologies to the geico guy) "Only in the THINKING BEING has the will to live BECOME CONSCIOUS OF OTHER WILL TO LIVE, and desirous of solidarity with it. This solidarity, however, cannot be brought about, because human life does not escape the puzzling and horrible circumstance that it must LIVE AT THE COST OF OTHER LIFE. But as an ETHICAL BEING one strives to ESCAPE WHENEVER POSSIBLE FROM THIS NECESSITY, and to PUT A STOP TO THIS DISUNION OF THE WILL TO LIVE..." Dr. Albert Schweitzer

On humans supposedly being meant to eat meat, couldn't have said it better myself:
Jason said,
"Mike H said,
"Humans have much simpler digestive systems than herbivores, and digest proteins in the form of meat very efficiently. Like chimpanzees, we are omnivores, born with canines, incisors, as well as molars. We eat anything that crosses our path, be it animal or vegetable.

Physiologically, we are equipped to be hunters. Our eyes are mounted on the front of our heads, giving us superior binocular vision -- not on the sides of our heads, like cows, for example. We more resemble wolves and lions (who are decidedly not herbivores)."

I'm not claiming humans are herbivores, however you need to get your facts straight. Comparing humans digestive tract to say a cow(which is stupid since cows eat/digest grass, humans don't, so there is not point in comparing the two), yes it's simpler, however it's also more complex than some carnivore's digestive system. This doesn't support either argument.

Second, canines do not imply that an animal is a meat eater. Two examples, pandas and gorillas. Not to mention a gorilla's canines are far more impressive than the pathetic human canines. Track the history of canine evolution, and you'll realize the mistake in this claim.

Third, eyes don't denote a hunter either. You really need to look at a larger sample of predators and prey, not just cows and wolves and lions. Eyes in the front of the head are the result of arboreal life, one needs depth perception to live in trees, much like many predators need depth perception to hunt. There are a number of causes for certain physiological traits, and too many people are getting them confused."

It's pretty obvious--all htis time and effort they are spending on researching "alternatives" to raising animals simply for food could be spent on developing new foods with the proteins, amino acids that meat provides, and then we wouldn't need to eat meat in the first place.
It's not as if I eat pork as it stands right now, but this just gives me one more reason not to want to. Ew.

It is a great experience. I think we have good technology for almost everything, why not to "make" meat? Many people say that we need meat, but I think that if we are natural predators, we are the only one that could try to kill without cruelty and look for new alternatives. But, what we see is that people and govenment don't even care about this, and when someone want to change it, is criticized as an insane.
If you think you are a "good predator" in this context, see animal transportation or go to a slaughterhouse in my town, at northwest of Brazil, and give me your "new" opinion about laboratorial meat!

do you think they could make human muscle?

That would be great. I have always wondered what I tasted like.

Gerald Shields,
everything you say about man as a omnivore or carnivore is false. We don't have short bowels like wolves and other carnivores who digest meat in 2 hours, it takes 72 hours for our very long bowel.
We don't look like predators at all ! We don't have night vision, claws, canines (our canines and incisors are quite pathetic compared to wolves, tigers or even cats and dogs), our dentition is 90% molars, for greens and fruits. Chimpanzee are no meat eaters, like gorillas they might eat some insects here and there, TO SURVIVE, but they eat mostly greens and fruits, maybe some nuts and seeds. As for the Inuits, of course they have to eat meat ! what else... snow?

Gerald Shields says:
Neil said:
"Humans were never meant to eat meat in the first place - our physiology corresponds with natures vegetarians, not carnivores."
Au contraire. I think you'd find more than a few Inuit who'd disagree with you.
Humans have much simpler digestive systems than herbivores, and digest proteins in the form of meat very efficiently. Like chimpanzees, we are omnivores, born with canines, incisors, as well as molars. We eat anything that crosses our path, be it animal or vegetable.
Physiologically, we are equipped to be hunters. Our eyes are mounted on the front of our heads, giving us superior binocular vision -- not on the sides of our heads, like cows, for example. We more resemble wolves and lions (who are decidedly not herbivores)."

Gerald Shields says:

"Physiologically, we are equipped to be hunters. Our eyes are mounted on the front of our heads, giving us superior binocular vision -- not on the sides of our heads, like cows, for example. We more resemble wolves and lions (who are decidedly not herbivores)."

If we are equipped like hunters, I guess you wouldn't have any problem fighting against a bear, a tiger, a wolve or a lion...?
To answer if we are meat eaters or not: just look at the facts : the health of Americans (heart attacks, obesity, etc) compared to populations living on a 100% vegan diet since many generations in perfect health, with an everage of more than 100 years old per individual.
In nature, if you're hungry, would you instinctively grab a fresh fruit in a tree and eat it, or you rather eat a rotten animal corpse like wolves, lions, tigers and hyena do ?

we were deisgned to eat a mixture and when we began eating cooked meat we began to outstrip other animals. The only problem is, in those days, we ran after it, and dug holes to catch it etc, all of which took energy. So in those days the fat and protein in meat got converted into stuff we needed, rather than useless body fat. The problem isn't eating meat, it's that we eat meat then sit on our arses all day.

Wow, the amount of commenting on this is amazing. I'll have to go through and read them all soon.

I've been waiting for this for years. I'm a vegan, and this would be a lovely alternative for me, supposing it is the way it's reported.

And just to touch on the little argument about eating meat...
1)It's not necessary, and thereby wasteful.
2)In the current state of affairs, it's cruel.
3)Currently there are alternatives.

It doesn't matter if we are capable or not; social evolution has far outpaced physical evolution anyway.