I don’t have a problem with the new laboratory-raised meat that grows in a petri dish. I have a huge problem with it. I have an issue with it. I have issues with the people producing and hyping it.
If they were honest, I wouldn’t have such a problem with it. They are not being honest? How could that be? Think about it.
They call themselves “Vegan Outreach” on Twitter. That’s bad enough. It’s about as vegan as veal. It derives from a stem cell from the animal’s muscle whose taste it is trying to mimic. A spokesman for that industry said “We add a tendon to it”, but he didn’t elaborate what that meant.
But my big beef (no pun intended with this industry) , they are hyping it as “a way to feed the world, or safe the planet, because of its very nature, it would mean less farm animals, or even no farm animals, hence less methane gasses, less cruelty etc.
Why is it that none of the so-called brilliant talking heads on TV news have not asked, “So when farming ends, will all the farmers just go home and live with their moms?” Or will they hang in their patiently while people find thousands of new ways to invent new clothing, new products, new fuel, new everything (much less regulated than meat)? Doesn’t this mean animal factory farming is going to increase about 1000-fold if this “meat product” takes off? And with more factory farming (which is inevitable, this means more methane gas which means “If you think global warming is bad now, wait till then”. Just wait till people find all the new neat uses for livestock. And you know and I know, savvy entrepreneurs worldwide are just waiting for the right opportunity, and Frankenmeat story, gives them not just a foot into the door, but an but something “more special than fracking” as far as “caring for the planet”.
I am sure the people inventing it know this, but they certainly are mum. Why? Duh. Could it be that they are only in it for the money? Isn’t that special.
I happen to be a vegan, but a weird non-meat meat product is not the source of my anger. The source of my anger is all the new industries that will form once animal farming is outlawed, because there will be so many new uses for farm animals. And most of these products go from slightly regulated to not regulated at all. If you think factory farming is bad now, wait until cows, sheep, pigs, chickens etc. are used for rocket fuel, caps, hub caps, back-to-school notebooks, and a zillion other items. Items that are made out of cheaper plastic products will compete with a more upscale “animal-based” product; hence a huge need for farm animals, hence much more factory farming; all so a few people can make a fortune on Frankenmeat.
Shame on the meatless meat industry, and shame on us for being so short-sighted.
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Rick London is an author, designer, songwriter and cartoonist. He is best known for his Google 7 Bing #1 ranked offbeat cartoons & funny gifts “Londons Times Cartoons” which he launched in 1997. He is married to hiker/nature photographer and gift designer Lee Hiller-London who has the popular wildlife photography blog Hike Our Planet and shops such as Lee Hiller Designs.
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