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Robert Winner

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Would you eat "in vitro" meat?

Dutch biologist Mark Post says he can make a lab grown hamburger available by the end of the year.

What would be the impacts world wide of have lab grown meat?

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    shannon gilman

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    Jan 6 2012: I wouldn't eat Lab created meat simply because it is not necessary .Why would we spend money doing that research when there is so much more research needed in medical and health fields to really make a change for better ?

    • Albert Hong

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      Jan 6 2012: I would disagree.
      The meat industry (and agriculture) generate a huge amount of waste. It takes an immense amount of land, generates immense amount of pollution.
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact_of_meat_production

      Also, there is also surprisingly little real "meat" in the stuff we eat already.
      Lab-created meat could very well generate a more efficient way to get our "meat" demand.

      That being said, this would have to be a process taken into deep consideration.
      The meat simply could not be safe, be extremely expensive in its creation, possible ethical concerns, nutritional standards, etc.

      However, the way I see it, with the rise in population, the meat industry simply isn't sustainable. Either we give up completely on meat, make the industry more efficient, or find more creative alternatives.
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      Robert Winner 50+

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      Jan 9 2012: Shannon, Albert provides a great web site that gives more details of the efficiency of the meat industry. I agree that there are other things that could be addressed that would better serve society. I recently viewed a site that said we must priortize our spending on research. To end AIDS is not a reasonable goal. There must be a starting place that would achieve that goal. There are thousands of companies looking for a cure. What if all that money were being applied to an agreed to step (ie. education and prevention). Everyone is looking for end game. I say stop looking from the top down and start looking from the bottom up. (NO PUN INTENDED). Global warming will not be stopped by Al Gore flying his polutting jet around or his two high energy use homes with no green applications. For each issue there is a starting point those are the causes I will support. The ones who has a chance to succeed and spend wisely. Thanks for responding.
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      Arnab Dutta

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      Jan 27 2012: Hi shannon,

      "I do however think that meat is a luxury"
      Ya meat is a luxury and so is 95% of things in present life.
      We don't need a car .We can use public transport
      We dont need liquor or wine .Complete luxury
      We dont need boiled food . We can even survive having salad.

      But love to do luxury .

      " I wouldn't eat Lab created meat simply because it is not necessary .Why would we spend money doing that research when there is so much more research needed in medical and health fields to really make a change for better ? "
      So you are not eating synthetic meat because you want to protest against spending money doing such research. Not because u dont like synthetic meat. BMW / AUDI spends million of dollars to increase the top speed by 10 km. Arms and ammunition manufacturer spends Billion dollars on research. And if some company or country thinks it unethical others will do it. So your view may sounds nice but its impractical .

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