Meat without animals? Science says yes!

It's amazing and embarrassing some even still have been trained to crave the taste of animal carcass; blech .. if they must, then sure, this is of course a much more preferably method for eating dead flesh ... bring it!

oh my god this is disgusting me it dont matter its still human mean how sick is this? what world are we living it i cant take this shit no more enough is enough please stop we will fall to our doom science needs to stop somewhere

This technology would best be applied to "growing" replacement human parts, like heart valves, lung sections for post-ops and human cartilage for application in systems that could benefit from low-friction surfaces, rather than trying to feed ourselves.

I don't care what kind of animal its from or how it was made. If its nutritious and delicious then thats all that matters to me.

mm...human meat - that's what we call: exotic

Cannibalism anyone?

What is wrong with this world?

It sounds like "Oryx and Crake" - great book, scary premise. I am not opposed to cloned meat. I do think, however, that the human race has a tenuous hold on "humanity" already...and this might present ethical issues we are not ready to address. We have enough difficulty with the ethics involved in controlling our own bodies...and determining who/what has sentience...

This sort of thing is a lot of blah, blah. You'll still get food bourne diseases and contamination (probably worse) and just the same amout of poloution from al the industrial processes involved. Personally I'd reather have industry supporting REAL animals rather than some silly utopian fantasy of perfect meat without suffering, poloution or disease that wouldn't in fact prevent ANY of that just ake us MORE reliant on industry.

There is so so so much to say on this thread... as a nutritionist and an active agrarian..this screams WRONG! I'm not getting into frivilous comment wars with uneducated people, just stating my opinion. Not to mention that economically and ergonomically it doesn't pan out.... it just leaves room for more problems.....

agreed, this could potentially ease the blight put forth by the industrial farms. Being a vegan...I have grown a displeasure to the taste and texture of meat, I don't see myself running for this lab food, but I think that it's a helpful step in lessoning the suffering of so many beings.

they could grow transplant organs . THAT would be good . Everything dies . As long as it had a decent life , it will be used by some organism .

this is weird, I can see the benefits but it's really strange. Although the more I think about eating meat, that is very strange as well. Even though I'm not a vegetarian...

I vote for the non-cannibalism cannibalism. This will be weird if it happens.

As a vegetarian there is no way in a million years that you could get me to eat that.

I know some veggies out there love the taste of meat etc. and eat a lot of meat substitutes but I can't stand either, it's still an imitation of living tissue, so the boundaries for me are too close to eating your pet cat or even human tissue.

Secondly, if people are thinking that this is going to help the industrial meat situation, it's a step in the wrong direction. Intensive farming of anything, without respect for nature's balance/time and space needed - always leads to bad things, so I can imagine this turning into something horrific and very science fiction indeed.

That said, I've never been one to convince people to take responsibility for what they eat, so I'm not going to start now. If people want to eat this kind of stuff, then so be it, the western world already consumes a hell of a lot of crap anyway.

I hope this becomes common place in the market. It would finally be an end to the suffering of livestock and environmental destruction.

It's great that technology is advancing and all, but this whole meat without animals idea is really just ridiculous.

This is really fascinating and very alarming simultaneously. Definitely makes me feel like we would be playing God in doing this. Is that a bad thing/good thing? Who knows. Would the meat taste like grass-feed angus or kobe steak? Will it also extend to tuna and other seafood? The thought of eating lab-cultured human meat is also intriguing, mainly due to being able to do so without killing anyone. Definitely a story to watch and gnaw on... :)

So: if we can create meat in labs, and we can create life in labs, can we create meat shaped lifeforms? I'd like to see burger patties being raised in pens within the next few years. all you'd have to do is kill (optional) one and eat it. And it would be boneless.

It's cool if you don't want to eat meat, but we all have canines. We're evolutionarily built to eat meat. Sure this may be "meat," but if you start playing around like this, you start screwing up the natural order of "what eats what." To do this you would have to kill the millions upon millions of livestock animals we currently have at our disposal (which pretty much defeats the purpose, I presume, of engineering this "meat" in the first place.) We've allowed millions of animals to breed in captivity for a purpose: to eat them. What would happen to all these animals? Free them? That would put quite a burden on the food web of that particular area. They would eat all the foliage, and other species would die out from a lack of food supply. In turn animals that eat the animals that wanted to eat said foliage would die out or relocate to another area where they would themselves disrupt the natural order of things in yet another area. This is just one of those ideas that sounds way better in theory than execution. If nothing else, this will turn out to be just nifty science experiments.

It was interesting as a biologist to read this, but this whole notion is poppycock.

also, i do not think that the FDA will be regualted to label the stuff 'lab grown meat' - just as there are no current or pending laws on genetically engineered fruits and veggies...just a matter of business - in the end, it is who can make the most profit, not who can save the most lives.

I would eat it when i comes out ^_^

To me lab-grown meat seems a little creepy but it couldn't be any worse than fast food meat

So rad! Since there are tons of holdouts that will never stop eating meat, not to mention the impoverished people that have no other choice in some cases, this is the perfect answer!

I REALLY hope they make this a reality, sooner than later. People shouldn't have a problem eating it, hell, we already eat GM EVERYTHING anyway...

this is good - it seems good - but i can't help but be a sceptic who is full of consparicy theories as to how they (the govts) would use this as a mind control tool - or population tool for that matter....though since I can't quite figure out the disadvantages, well, that is all for now.

You people are unbelievable. How stupid can you get, to think it's a good idea for us to eat fake meat? You, who protest against Monsando, and like companies? I can't believe this...... You lefties really ARE crazy....

if anything it helps save animals from a live of torture. now i don't feel bad for eating my sandwich :D

Just my opinion and thoughts: I do not think that it would be wrong to do it, but it sure is heading towards the idea of growing babies next so women do not have to become pregnant to reproduce. It is a very sensitive subject. Also, what about all of the farmers who would lose their farms and livelihood?

This is nasty and wrong, we shouldn't be eating human meat, period. I'd rather eat the real thing. And is this where our tax dollars are going!?

GE ANYTHING in regards to food and our environment is unnatural, unethical, immoral, and irresponsible. I just about guarantee any sort of GE meat like GMOs will have its fill of chemicals and toxins as well that will cause health effects to humans, other species, and this planet. But leave it to humans to find some way to think they are escaping culpability for killing animals instead of changing their lifestyles. There are already protein alternatives to meat, and this would not stop the killing of animals. It would clearly be done for profit motive.

100% GE meat does NOT, most definitely does NOT sound good.
I'd rather starve than eat something spawned out of a biological vat, cloned from something dead. Deep inside me I know there is something very wrong with this practice.

I like my meat to have been on the hoof at one time or another. I would prefere to buy free range food of any kind. I don't like the fact that we are eating mass produced anything. My brother and his family raise rabbits and goats for most of there meat. once a year He gets a steer and raises that till it gets about half grown then slauters it. that gives them beef for six or eight months.

ew.

In India, I've noticed that the bulls that eat the garbage on city streets are much smaller. Partly this is because they haven't been bred for muscle size. Partly, this is because their four stomachs are filled with plastic and styrofoam.

It would be strange to see a world where, when you eat meat you visualize a laboratory, instead of an animal. It completely detaches your connection with actual animals. Odd. Also, does this mean you can make a jumbo steak? I'd love some jumbo steak. Instead of having the biggest pumpkin competition, we'd have the biggest chicken wing contest.
And on the topic of growing human meat, well, it matters what society will think. Though to think of that as a social norm is unrealistic at best.

A great way to reduce the amount of animals slaughtered, increase the amount of edible meat, and freak the living fuck out of fundamentalists. Good points all around. I approve.

it sounds great, but surely this would lead to mass unemployment?

This could be big, we already eat food that is totally unnatural and designed in labs, so its really not as big of a deal as people think. Think of all that grazing space that could be used for other agriculture or be rehabilitated back to being wild lands. This won't replace "real" meat completely but it could turn out to be a real energy/space saver.

This is both creepy & a little bit cool at the same time! & if it all goes well with this it just MIGHT change the way people think of food & even life it's self!

no thank you...

Super Cow looks effing delicious. So many delicious steaks.

Honestly, I feel no remorse about eating locally grown, grass fed beef. I used to, and I knew a beef rancher, and he brought it to my attention, that there is no such thing as a cow getting old and dying.

Cows get that get old get weak, and are killed and eaten by buzzards, coyotes, etc, before they get a chance to die on their own. To be eaten is the fate of the cow.

I suppose how creepy it is is inversely proportional to how hungry you are.

I don't see why the progenitor cells would need to be harvested from cadavers, unless a large quantity of tissue was required. In theory shouldn't you be able to eat yourself?

Anyway, the benefits to this could be huge for the environment and ethics.

This could be the next big step in our species farming abilities since early humans began cultivating crops. I can just see early humans arguing if it was safe to eat cultivated, farmed crops vs gathering in the wild.

It is creepy but no more creepier than the unsanitary conditions of most industrial farms

Let it be, let it be!!!

WTF!!! I believe if Scientist took fresh GREEN Horse shit and said it was great for you, and it helped save the land, people in sections of this country trample each other trying to be first. I DON'T WANT MAN MADE LAB MEAT!!!

wait Mcdonalds...

Question!: So...is this pretty much vegan/vegetarian meat? It's technically an "animal product", but all the reasons a vegan/vegetarian wouldn't eat meat have been eliminated from the production of this stuff.

Even so, I'm not so sure I'd indulge in some lab steak after years of not eating any.

won't be real, the life force won't be there. you can't just create life force in the lab. silly scientist

That's an interesting point, Ras - imitation substances haven't stopped us from killing real animals yet- so I wonder if this "lab meat" would just be the cheap "knock off" stuff while real meat's prices would rise and be considered a luxury?

Textured Vegetable Product rules! When I've been to China, I've always eaten in the Buddhist restaurants, and they do amazing things with TVP. Of course, they're not able to reproduce the experience of Filet Mignon. Yummy:)

this has nothing to do with the ethical treatment of animals,yes shut down factory farms don't exterminate the things we have turned them in to it was not there doing if we can manage wild life we can manage domesticated animals back to nature.

imitation crab
imitation oil canola
imitation meat
GMO substances
meat like substance

all this is is our concision telling us we are fucking up all the while the usual suspect's finding a way to make a buck and nothing else...................

this is the kind of science I'd like to see developed before I pass any judgement. I'd develop it, test it, market it and see what issues arise, then weigh all the pros and cons before deciding because it does seem that it could be beneficial... but who knows what else.

Sounds like a good idea.

A little creepy though...not sure that I'd eat human meat, lab created or not. Many ethical questions follow these developments!

i've been hearing this for a while and I'm glad this could be the beginning of the end of the industrial farming