Cultured Meat is Not as Ethical as You May Think

What is it about?

Cultured meat is increasingly being touted by animal industry players and leading animal advocates alike as a viable alternative to flesh from slaughtered animals. At first glance, cultured meat, which is made from stem cells collected from ostensibly harmless biopsies of living animals and grown in vats, seems like a logical and even ingenious solution to the otherwise seemingly insurmountable problem of balancing the growing global demand for animal flesh with urgent concerns surrounding the massive environmental and animal welfare costs intrinsic to industrial animal food production. Unfortunately, however, upon closer examination it quickly becomes clear that this optimism is unfounded: cultured meat is far from a panacea to the ills inherent to animal agriculture. In fact, by working hand-in-hand with some of the biggest food corporations and meat producers to develop and promote cultured meat, and by shifting focus away from the development of sustainable plant-based alternatives to animal protein, the cultured meat project perpetuates those very ills.

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Photo by Lucas Vasques on Unsplash

Photo by Lucas Vasques on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Millions are poured into the project of cultured meat and it is often considered the "solution" to many problems, from the environmental costs of intensive animal farming to animal suffering. It is important therefore to examine it from every angle and highlight its ethical and political problems.