by Christyl Rivers

Created on: September 20, 2010   Last Updated: September 21, 2010

This stem cell  “lab meat” question is complex.  Would anyone wish to eat lab grown meat? 

First of all, the fossil record shows that  since before recorded history, human beings have eaten animal, vegetable, mineral, fungi, and more.  Many people today eat horse, dog, cat, cow, insect,and much more.  Foodways, as they are known, are a culturally driven part of each individual’s diet.  We all are influenced by other factors as well, including our ethics, personal tastes, education level, too. We may have the power to end world starvation, reduce famine and drought, by reversing desertification caused by over use of cattle, and sheep, and goat range lands.  We may also see the beginning of healthier, leaner food, without the high fats known to contribute to heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and more.  We may also begin to treat other species as having a right to live as nature designed rather than as hormonally bloated and factory farmed "victims."  Another plus would be the potential elimination of  bird flu,  swine flu, E-coli, salmonella, and various other serious meat production concerns that presently plague society.

It would likely be good for the whole world to have a solid protein source.  It would certainly help restore land for other habitats.  It would allow us to better use land in general for crops rather than for feedlots with their contaminants, health issues, and diet concerns. It has been known for some time that eating meat comes at a high cost that we cannot sustain for everyone on the planet.  It has also long been known that is not healthy for the human body, the environment, or the meat, (cow, chicken, dog, horse) from which the meat comes.  Yet, something within us is repulsed by the idea of lab grown meat.  What is it?

Most science of social inquiry tells us we are afraid of those things that are unfamiliar.  If you have any doubt of this, look to your initial reaction, if you are in one of the more Western influenced and English speaking nations, when you think of eating your own dog, cat, or horse, pig or other animal.  We are usually repulsed with the unfamiliar, unless we grew up eating Lassie.

Our minds only function in the adult and socially complex external world when we program our settings on “good idea” “bad idea” or “complex, but intriguing idea which may have merit."  The question at hand falls easily into the last category.

There are so many considerations.  How are the initial stem cells to be gathered, exactly?  To what methods and contaminants would the lab be exposed?  How will people react if human cells are by deliberate act, or terrorism act, involved?  What personal, private, public and long term religious views are violated?  What people will have the technology, and who will not be allowed to have the technology?  Is the food healthy for consumption?  Who, or what  nations, would be making a profit, and who would lose their family business for this revolutionary new industry? The questions pile up faster than Hot dog detritrus at the slaughter house.

This question is so important, and so complex, it takes a considerable amount of thought and research to even begin to make educated decisions.  It is hoped that anyone now doing such research has a broad base of knowledge, not just of the process, but of the long term reactions, consequences, and global impact.

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