Animals Still Die for Cultured Meat Essay

Submitted By BonyMcQ
Words: 489
Pages: 2
Open Document
Animals Still Die for Cultured Meat
I imagined, when first hearing about cultured meat, that one needed only a cell or two from a living animal and that—like a “starter” for sourdough bread—cells from the animal could then divide and reproduce and thereby generate meat in perpetuity. That is, I thought that after initially taking some cells from a living animal, one would not need to return for more animal cells later. As it turns out, I was mistaken.
Contrary to popular belief, cultured meat involves the use and slaughter of animals. The material used to make the hamburgers served in London involved a type of cell removed from cows’ necks at a slaughterhouse and cultured in a medium of fetal calf serum taken from a slaughtered, pregnant cow. The kind of cell that scientists have used to create cultured meat has important practical advantages but cannot reproduce indefinitely, so it would reportedly “never be completely animal-free; . . . [the inventor] will always need a supply of muscle tissue from which to obtain new cells.” If this is so, then “cultured meat” does not offer the promise of an end to animal slaughter and exploitation.
At most, cultured meat offers the possibility that people might pay for the slaughter of many fewer cows than before. Slaughtering fewer animals is an improvement over slaughtering more animals, but it is still slaughtering animals. I therefore have a difficult time seeing the product of that slaughter as an unambiguously positive development, even on its own terms, and I certainly would not consider the product ethical or “cruelty-free.”

This completely ignores the fact that in vitro cells are grown on a substrate called “Fetal Bovine Serum” (FBS) (as detailed in this fact sheet from Maastricht University). Here is an excerpt from an article, “The use of fetal bovine serum: ethical or scientific problem?”. Keep in mind that the description here is derived from less than 4% of FBS
Show More

Related Documents: Animals Still Die for Cultured Meat Essay

Argumentative Essay On Human Cloning

their boundaries, and that while cloning an animal is one thing cloning a human is on a completely different spectrum. Despite this, scientists have been attempting to clone since the late 1930s, and have successfully cloned numerous animals throughout the years; the information discovered in this innovative research has spiraled a plethora of ideas to come within the field. Although cloning can be seen in a very positive light when it comes to producing animals for research among other reasons, the disadvantages…

Words 1978 - Pages 8

Atlantic Sturgeon Research Paper

(ASSRT 1998). The physical characteristics of the Atlantic Sturgeon make it a unique species and separates them from other groups of fish species. Able to grow to a length of 14 feet long and weigh over 800 pounds the Atlantic sturgeon is quite a large animal (ASSRT 1998). Sturgeon have a protrusible mouth on the underside of their snout, their mouth is small, has no teeth, and has large lobed, rubbery lips (ASSRT 1998). The skin of the Sturgeon is rough, gritty and usually…

Words 1705 - Pages 7

Outline The Difficulties Of Defining The Terms Health And Disease

1.1 – Discuss the difficulties of defining the terms ‘health’ and ‘disease’: Health:  Defined as the wellbeing of the organism.  i.e. the physical, mental and social states of the individual.  Difficulties: o Different people have different levels of ‘wellbeing; when they say they are healthy. o E.g. a fit person will say they are healthy if they currently do not have a disease. o However, a person with a chronic disease will say they are healthy if the symptoms are not too bad that day. o Difficult…

Words 6059 - Pages 25

Sexually Transmitted Diseases Essay

Electricity 77-78 Heat 78-81 Light 82-91 Sound 92 Simple Machines 93-99 Unit 5 The Physical Environment Weather and Climate 100-113 Soils 114-128 Unit 6 Living things in the Environment Plant and animal cells 129 Eukaryotes vs prokaryotes 130 Structures and functions 133-137 Microbes 148-150 Onion and cheek cells 150-151 Ecological study 154 Seed…

Words 35677 - Pages 143