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PETA offering 1 million dollar lab-grown meat prize


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PETA is offering 1 million dollars (say it in your best Dr. Evil voice) to the first team of scientists that can develop a method to produce commercially viable quantities of in vitro (lab-grown) chicken meat.

The figure was reached by a team of math nerds working in PETA’s basements who have determined that 1 million is actually very close to the number of chickens killed every hour in the United States—so there’s a nice element of symbolism to the offer as well. But symbolism aside—we’re deadly serious about helping to fund developments in this new science, which has the potential to end the suffering of literally billions of animals if a commercially viable lab meat is made available. As PETA President Ingrid Newkirk puts it:

"People are surprised to learn that PETA is interested in lab-grown meat, but we have overcome our own revulsion at flesh-eating to champion a breakthrough that will mean a far kinder world for animals. One million dollars is a lot of money, but it's a small price to pay for something that has the potential to save about 1 million lives every hour."
jcwelker

55 responses // PETA offering 1 million dollar lab-grown meat prize

  • I think I'd rather just be a vegetarian.
    joshuaheller
  • watch this comment being used here, here, here, here, here, and here
    Something tells me that cloned meat will still have all the problems of regular meat.
    Thanks but no thanks.
    I think I'll just stick to being a vegan.
    knuckletoaster
  • I think I'd rather eat real chicken. *shudders*
    Allsunday
  • who would want lab meat?????
    jrock108
  • So does that mean anyone in PETA is going to Hell?

    Last time I checked, maybe last month, Genetic Manipulation was a sin. Whats worse: Chicken or Chicken of SIN!!@!@

    Meditate on that....
    drewthepooh
  • Yeah, all you people would eat lab meat and not even know it. As long as it came in a McDonald's wrapper with a side order of french fries, your McUnNuggets would go down just fine.
    Julie_Soller
  • It's stories like these that make me SO glad I went veg a decade ago!
    LarzNero
  • Gross and nasty; super chicken from a lab! Where do we draw the line between animal rights and human food safety?
    jubal
  • This is ridiculous, its giving the impression that our only options are biotechnological foods from petri dishes or animal suffering in the extreme, which is simply not the case. There are other choices, vegetarianism is only one of them. Sustainable agriculture needs to be taken seriously, as we can see with food riots breaking out world wide, and yes, it can feed the world, if the world would think about a balanced diet that doesn't require animal protein three times a day. I normally support PETA, but this is a step in the wrong direction entirely.
    Kati_kat
  • that is nasty. Just eat greens homie..!
    Spiral9
  • Now that's just terrifying. Why does PETA care so much about animals, why not a million dollars to the person who gets food to every plate instead of wasting it on this crap.
    Find something better to do, PETA.
    Nuevarine
  • no. i want lab grown veal cutlets - why should chickens be singled out ? why should PETA pick chickens as their pet subject ? chickens are just too easy - a good idea , but it is way too agenda oriented - if PETA had the best interests of the animals which actually suffer the most in mind , they'd have chosen veal as their poster issue .
    and i agree with Nuevarine , if PETA even cared about human suffering they'd WANT more chicken to be harvested - now. there are millions in this world who'd give up sex for a chicken wing .
    malathion
  • LOL @ julie soller ... well put, add some salt and slap the golden arches on it and you'll never know the difference.

    I'm with Josh and Spiral. Greens are better for you, and your colon agrees.
    stephenthomson
  • Maybe on a near future, if all goes well with the LHC, we might have at home the most novel invention of all time.
    A Molecule Synthesizer capable of reconstructing from simple molecules to complex as proteins.

    Right... sounds like science fiction... but you are reading this text... which has a binary code, magnetically or optically store in some server, thanks to the electrons, that run in some good forsaken processor at your command.

    Also maybe the field of regenerative medicine might be able to digg into the food industry, specially around meat producers. What it takes is finding the right specimen, most likely already genetically enhanced beefy and juicy lab produce... supply and demand baby.

    I mean they use pigs for human hearts, insuline and others.
    hyperbrand
  • um it sounds a little crazy... i mean cloned meat ??? only god knows what we'll really be eating their but being a some what a vegie lover, lol i don't really eat meat that much so it won't really matter to me lol : )
    Animal_Lover_4_Life
  • Nuevarine, thats not exactly the most reasonable comment, PETA is an interest group, thats like asking the NRA to protest gun sales, they are there to support their wants, just as other groups are there to support "getting food to every plate".
    AswegoAsdego
  • Wouldn't the ability to grow meat make it more readily available to people who need it, granted the technology is available to the right people? If it is proven to be safe, we would need some strict regulations.

    Not that I really have a solid position on it or anything, but we're full of some pretty harmful stuff already thanks to processed foods, pollution, etc. It's something to look into. Not everyone is willing to give up meat.
    justher
  • I'll stick to real chicken thank you. Mmmmm chicken...*drools*
    rabidlemur
  • I hate hippies! Wow, yes. conserve animals but not resort to lab grown food. What next PETA, are you going to say tigers and lions should be introduced in North America? You make as much sense as my ridiculous comment!
    CrazyDave
  • you said it crazydave!

    PETA is a rediculous orginization.

    but i guess we have to tolerate even the stupidest causes... NOT
    RoBot_rOcKer
  • chickens , like pigs , yield more protein and calories than they cost in labor to "harvest" - pigs will eat human feces and get fat , chickens will eat dirt - in many dirt poor communities you can't afford to be a vegetarian - there's not enough usable land , nor is there a sufficient labor force anyhow - maybe PETA would prefer the poor in this world to eat themselves ?
    malathion
  • This has to be a publicity stunt. No way is one million dollars enough of an incentive to garner any scientific action. The costs alone to discover such a resource would make the million look like a drop of water in a full bucket. Besides how would they allocate such a reward? Does the chicken have to be edible? Non-toxic? protein full?

    An obvious stunt from their advertising department to gain notoriety.
    BillionJawingNeurons
  • i believe in mass chicken genocide.
    RoBot_rOcKer
  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soylent_Green
    I am all for the mad scientist (not). So does this mean I would need to take anti rejection medication with my plate of genetically questionable fried chicken? Soylent Green. Whats next?
    krystahardin
  • Yikes. No thanks. I'll stick to my old fashioned meat. Isn't this why we fought so hard for labels on GMO'd produce?
    cheyroze
  • I think this is a good idea. If this can be done with out any side effects and on a large scale, we can feed millions. So what if it was made in a lab, stopping chicken suffering is nice and all but stopping the suffering of starving children is even greater.
    The_Dreamer
  • Fry it and I will eat it!
    burtflaxton
  • i wonder why so many people on current support stem cell research and would reap the benifits from it, but are so fearful of genetically altered / cloned food....
    AswegoAsdego
  • I would be scared of possible health risks from eating man made meat...

    But that's just me.
    kevung
  • I don't know if I'd eat it unless it was as close to exactly the same as chicken meat as it could get.
    Yhtomit
  • Funny how, to create lab grown chicken meat you'd probably need more than a million dollars in research to do it. hahaha so.... what's the point?
    EmperorThan
  • thats perfect, we can grow the meat with less fat and more protein. i'm down
    diode
  • ONE MILLION DOLLARS!!

    **Sucks in pinky.
    CarlosIsDown
  • Brilliant! Good for PETA.
    If you do eat meat (and yes I still do but try to get Organic or at least free range) then you need to see this and maybe you'll think lab grown meat with none of the cruilty is not such a bad idea.

    http://current.com/items/88913616_earthlings_a_brillian...
    Merge9
  • Is it really such a bad thing? I suppose when someone produces a replicator, you're all going to shun that too?? Come on people, this is the future we're talking about.

    (on a less hysterical note, emperorthan; the fact that research would cost more than a million dollars doesn't matter - because you'd end up with a technology or product which could then be sold.)
    lwhi
  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdPwzbOdn4w
    I dont understand why so many people are put so disgusted by this isn't it more humane to just grow the bits of the animal that we want to eat?

    All we need to do now is find a way for the meat to mix a salad, knock up a nice mushroom sauce then cook itself.
    jonbrooks
  • I think I'll be eating fish for awhile...that is, unless they want to grow that in a lab too.
    chunche
  • MEAT IS GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!But this shit looks nasty.BUT VEGANS AND VEGETARIANS TRY MEAT>MY SISTER IS A VEGETARIAN AND SHE DON'T EAT MEAT BECAUSE SHE SAW MY DAD AT HIS WORK CUTTING UP A COW.but try meat
    ScottTheHilander
  • Ewww,

    That's disgusting. Lab grown meat, seriously folks? PETA should just stick with pure veggies. I mean we all know PETA is a little extreme but come on. Anything created in a lab as food cannot be good.

    PS How do you make lab grown chicken? After all it IS a million dollars.
    addctd2whticnsay
  • "Anything created in a lab as food cannot be good."

    Have you had a good look at how they 'grow' the chickens today? or the type of chickens they have created so they do grow the fastest? or the drugs they give them to counter disease in the attrocious conditions they are in? Maybe something that tasted the same, had same texture - the suffering, hormones, stress hormones and antibiotics to say nothing for the advantages to the environment woudn't be such a bad thing.
    Merge9