Lab-grown meat -- how will that affect you personally?

[SalixIncendium]

That is true, but it is only part of the picture. Also if the govco would let us sell deer meat then it would really be good for poor people. As it is its simply forbidden, and that's not natural either. That's another equilibrium. So we favor wolves over poor people. We grant that labs may sell meat but won't let hunters sell it.

If hunters could sell deer meat for profit, what would prevent poaching?

 

[Subduction Zone]

While I'm thrilled there will be an alternative to animal slaughter, if it is more costly to consumers, I'm afraid most meat eaters will stay with the more cost-effective option, just as they have with the introduction of plant-based meats such as Impossible and Beyond.

I, as a vegetarian, am unlikely to partake, because whether it comes from a slaughtered animal or cells taken from a living animal, it's still meat.

Plant cells are alive too. There is not any real difference. Animal life has to consume other animal life to exist. And plants also rely on animals. Ultimately they need the carbon dioxide that we return to the atmosphere. The first mass extinction on the planet was caused by "plants". I used scare quotes because I do believe that it was before the evolution of proper plants. Single celled life the produced oxygen as a wase product lowered the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere to the point where we were hit by a massive ice age. That was fairly early in our history when the Sun was not as bright. We needed a massive blanked of carbon dioxide then to keep the planet viable.

As to the OP, if they get the flavor right and it is reasonably priced I do not see any problems for me when it comes to consuming lab meat. The problems listed later are technicalities compared to the much more difficult problem of making it economical.

 

[Subduction Zone]

If hunters could sell deer meat for profit, what would prevent poaching?

A lack of deer.

 

[SalixIncendium]

The first mass extinction on the planet was caused by "plants". I used scare quotes because I do believe that it was before the evolution of proper plants. Single celled life the produced oxygen as a wase product lowered the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere to the point where we were hit by a massive ice age. That was fairly early in our history when the Sun was not as bright. We needed a massive blanked of carbon dioxide then to keep the planet viable.

Are we talking about the end-Ediacaran extinction? It's my understanding that this was cause by Ediacaran biota being wiped out by the emergence of Cambrian organisms. How are you suggesting it was caused by "plants?"

 

[Subduction Zone]

Are we talking about the end-Ediacaran extinction? It's my understanding that this was cause by Ediacaran biota being wiped out by the emergence of Cambrian organisms. How are you suggesting it was caused by "plants?"

Even before that the aptly name Cyrogean period:

Snowball Earth - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The early sun was quite a bit dimmer than our present sun. In fact there is a name for it, the Faint Sun Paradox. Models of star evolution showed that our Sun should have been a lot fainter in the past. At first this was not understood until climatologists and others realized the role that carbon dioxide played in keeping the Earth's temperature idea. And my timeline was off a bit. Proper plants probably did exist in the ocean at that time. At any rate as early life oxygenated the seas and eventually the atmosphere they did so at the expense of the blanked of CO2 surrounding the ocean. Eventually that was the likely cause of the worldwide glaciation in the Cryogean.

 

[Wandering Monk]

I think that it's anticipated that the costs will drop as the consumer demand increases and companies subsequently compete for the market.



I believe that even lab-grown pork will never be kosher, as the cells used for the lab-grown meat must come from a kosher animal in order for the product to be considered kosher.

Aren't there sages who said that an admixture of less than 1 part per 60 is kosher?

 

[Heyo]

What is being done to avoid human overpopulation?

Different things. easily available contraception in some places, 2. Amendment in the US.

 

[Wandering Monk]

What is being done to avoid human overpopulation?

It's taking care of itself. World population growth RATES have been declining for decades. Demographers had thought that we would top out at 11 billion people; now some are suggesting a much lower number, around 8 to 9 billion.

 

[Rachel Rugelach]

Aren't there sages who said that an admixture of less than 1 part per 60 is kosher?

I think that applies only when a small amount of a non-kosher material is accidentally mixed in with kosher. In the case of lab-grown pork, using cells from a pig would not only be deliberate, but the pig cells would grow and multiply and therefore make the finished product 100% pork. And any percentage of pork is, of course, not going to be kosher for consumption.

I could be wrong about all this, of course. Lets ask @rosends, who I know is a rabbi.

 

[Vinayaka]

"For the first time, U.S. regulators on Wednesday approved the sale of chicken made from animal cells, allowing two California companies to offer 'lab-grown' meat to the nation’s restaurant tables and eventually, supermarket shelves.

"The Agriculture Department gave the green light to Upside Foods and Good Meat, firms that had been racing to be the first in the U.S. to sell meat that doesn’t come from slaughtered animals — what’s now being referred to as 'cell-cultivated' or 'cultured' meat as it emerges from the laboratory and arrives on dinner plates."

Click here for entire article: US approves chicken made from cultivated cells, the nation's first 'lab-grown' meat

Aleph Farms of Israel had already successfully managed to create lab-grown meat and, at the beginning of this year, Israel's Chief Rabbinate had declared that the lab-grown steak is pareve -- which means that it's a "neutral" food that can be eaten by observant Jews with either meat or dairy dishes (observant Jews don't mix meat with dairy in our meals).

However (and last I heard), the chief executive of the Orthodox Union Kosher Division in New York, Rabbi Menachem Genack, has yet to decide on lab-grown meat. I believe that Rabbi Genack had a meeting in Israel, but I don't yet know what the outcome of that was.

For our non-Jews on this forum, especially our vegetarians and those who belong to religions that promote vegetarianism, how do you feel about lab-grown meat?

I'm personally delighted that there can be alternatives to animal slaughter while still enjoying the taste of meat. But is the enjoyment of the taste of meat still objectionable to some, despite the fact that animals are not being killed in order to have meat on one's dinner table?

It will have no immediate effect on me, but it might have some long term effects. It will help prolong the life of the planet (I'd like a planet to come back to, and not have to search for another one) by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It will also free up some arable land, to grow other food besides livestock food. That might help to cheapen the cost of food. This is all rather long term though, and it assumes that a lot of folks will make the switch.

 

[rosends]

I think that applies only when a small amount of a non-kosher material is accidentally mixed in with kosher. In the case of lab-grown pork, using cells from a pig would not only be deliberate, but the pig cells would grow and multiply and therefore make the finished product 100% pork. And any percentage of pork is, of course, not going to be kosher for consumption.

I could be wrong about all this, of course. Lets ask @rosends, who I know is a rabbi.

You are correct -- you cannot start with something not-kosher and rely on the nullification later on. Bitul (nullification) is only an after-the-fact mitigating factor when it was unwanted or unplanned.

 

[Heyo]

You are correct -- you cannot start with something not-kosher and rely on the nullification later on. Bitul (nullification) is only an after-the-fact mitigating factor when it was unwanted or unplanned.

:informative:

 

[Daemon Sophic]

Won't mean anything if they're not walking around.

Don't underestimate technological progress.

It should be a simple matter of giving serial electric shocks to the tanks and/or sheets of cells to make them repeatedly contract/"exercise".

Personally, I'm vegan for health reasons, not moral. So lab-grown meat will still have cholesterol and fat that is bad for us. So, no. Not for me.

If the lab grown meat results in less land and water use (and less hormones/chemicals), then ... full speed ahead.

 

[Brickjectivity]

If hunters could sell deer meat for profit, what would prevent poaching?

The same goes for fishing, yet fisherman are permitted to sell fish. There are hunting seasons, and there are wildlife preserves. I think that deer can also be farmed.

 

[SalixIncendium]

The same goes for fishing, yet fisherman are permitted to sell fish. There are hunting seasons, and there are wildlife preserves. I think that deer can also be farmed.

Last I checked, it is legal to sell farm raised venison.

 

[Brickjectivity]

Last I checked, it is legal to sell farm raised venison.

Let them eat cake.

 

[SalixIncendium]

Let them eat cake.

The cake is a lie.

 

[Brickjectivity]

The cake is a lie.

Its a lie which arises within our own minds, and so there is no one to blame but ourselves. It is frustrating.

 

[SalixIncendium]

Its a lie which arises within our own minds, and so there is no one to blame but ourselves. It is frustrating.

I blame Kim Swift.

 

[Brickjectivity]

I blame Kim Swift.

Seems like a peach.