Monday, April 21, 2008

PETA lays down 1 mill for first commercial "Tube" meat!


My earlier "Tube Steak" reference (link to earlier article) had at its' core a kernel of truth, based on An international symposium on the topic was held this month in Norway. So with that in mind, it seems PETA has waded in and upped the anti with a 1 million dollar prize for the "first person to come up with a method to produce commercially viable quantities of in vitro meat at competitive prices by 2012.” While the schedule may be a bit unrealistic, it is certain to throw gas on the fire. But it seems that PETA is a bit schizophrenic when it comes to the in-vitro topic. The decision to sponsor a prize caused “a near civil war in our office,” said one PETA founding member, since so many PETA members are repulsed by the thought of eating animal tissue, even if no animals are killed. So it comes as no surprise when the news of the prize was greeted a bit warily by those already researching a viable commercial method.

2 comments:

ron huber.55 said...

One supposes that if animal tissues can be grown to order, they can be grown to the configuration the consumer wishes, too. And perhaps by selected mix of tissue types combined in one slab: light meat, dark meat. Fish and fowl.

Rather like topiaries; these would be... bestiaries? Read the description of wildlife in Medieval wild animal lists? http://bestiary.ca/

Serious Question of Social Import: Would there be a reason to continue the ban on anthropophagianism? I.e. would consumer consumption of meat-factory products grown using tissue-types coded from the human genome be permitted? Why or why not?

The New Cannibalism may be just around the corner, friends.

Anonymous said...

Jesus your dark Ron. Adds a whole new twist on the question of "who are we having for supper tonight?" I would think that a wholesale change would only take place with major social upheaval. On so drastic that I suspect that collapse would happen before significant modification. But let me try a twist on that idea. What would be the most ideal protein you could ingest? Human yes, but once more step, your own. Now I suspect that there will never be Paul short ribs on the menu but how about lab created protein powders from your own cellular seed stock? The ultimate in health food?