So for the past couple of years I’ve noticed increasing awareness about the production of ‘lab-grown meat’ as a replacement for livestock in the human diet.  For the uninitiated, the process goes something like this: a tissue sample is collected from a living host (animal) without killing it, which acts as a ’seed’ to grow tissue in a laboratory.

The advantages that are being discussed are the reduction of farmland required to produce the same volume of end-product (meat), the ability to better control the spread of meat-borne diseases, the ability to supply locally-grown meat to larger urban areas much quicker, and reducing the environmental impact of farming livestock and transporting the meat to and from the slaughterhouse.

As a vegetarian, I’m going to make a few comments on this prospect from a totally different angle than most people are debating the issue.  This is the first time this nature of thing has ever been proposed in history, and it raises an entirely new set of questions related to ethics that have just never been addressed before.

Is it Meat?

Well, the first and biggest question I have is: does lab-grown meat qualify as meat as far as the restrictions of plant-based diets are concerned. Many people who end up as vegetarians (myself excluded) come at that conclusion based on the inhumane treatment of animals, or the desire not to kill animals. If meat can be produced without killing the animals, or putting them through the inhumane treatment many consider livestock farming to be, is this ‘meat’ ethically safe for these people?

Is ‘McPork’ really pork?

There are a number of diets that currently allow the eating of a wide range of meat, yet exclude pork from that list (Kosher, Halal for example). Does lab-grown ‘McPork’ violate these religious restrictions?  Again remembering that the reason for these restrictions within those diets is likely because of the bacterial contamination that could be tightly monitored and controlled? To a religious person who refuses to eat beef because they revere the cow above other animals, would being able to eat meat supplied by a cow without killing it be an act of worship and gratefulness, or would it still be off-limits?

Cannibalism?

So I think we could agree that the majority of the world considers eating humans ethically wrong.  That belief isn’t based in the fact that human flesh doesn’t contain any nutrients or protein that would could incorporate into our diet – but rather that cannibalism is non-sustainable and depends on murder to thrive. The natural dead present a source of human flesh, but most of the time the cause of death being disease or age makes that flesh less than ideal for consumption. Does our new-found ability to grow human flesh in a laboratory even taking an example from a human who either consents to the sample being taken, or possibly even being paid for delivering a sample mean that cannibalism is still ethically wrong? Does this open the door to celebrity sources for our meat?

Logistics

If we can produce many times the amount of end-product meat compared to the size of the sample taken, does this now open an all-new goldrush in the culinary world by the cheap, local production of exotic meats? Some animals like squirrel don’t have enough meat to merit a place on the plates of the hungry – but if you could grow a foot-ball sized solid steak from a squirrel – what wine do you pick for that? Who would know how platypus is best seasoned – does that work well with curry, or is it better breaded and fried? I don’t see this as an ethical problem quite the same way as the other above, but surely it will have massive impact on the menus of your favorite restaurant. Is eating a Poodleburger a jump you’re willing to take?

Conclusion

Obviously there will be much much more issues with implementing this new ability on the ethics side of things (more than developing the technology or facilities). Would you opt for lab-grown meat if you could ensure disease control, know you were doing your part to help reduce the environmental impact of livestock farming on the planet, and also getting a superior product? How much willing would you be extra to pay? At what point do you set the limit on the sources of meat you’re comfortable eating?  All of these questions are going to have to be answered eventually, and the sooner we start thinking about it, the sooner we can find a solution we can live with.

—Tom