Test Tube Meat

Discussion in 'The big picture' started by Spidermonkey, Feb 21, 2012.

  1. Spidermonkey

    Spidermonkey Junior Member

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    Hi Everyone,

    This article was in the news today about a scientist who has found a way to grow meat from stem cells. He says it is more environmentally friendly than conventional farming and his work has been well received by animal rights advocates. As laudable as all this sounds, I can't help feeling uneasy about it. However if it is safe it could be a fantastic solution to feeding an ever increasing population. I suppose one danger is it could normalise the practice of corporations creating artificial food? What are your thoughts?

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2103472/Test-tube-burgers-hit-kitchens-year-scientists-create-meat-taste-quarter-pounder.html
     
  2. annette

    annette Junior Member

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    Yes I saw that on the ABC news this morning. Doesn't look too tasty but who knows might just do the trick.
     
  3. labradel

    labradel Junior Member

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    hi this news has me scared s....less where will all this artificial stuff end, we have natural systems to do all this and they do it very well !
     
  4. Grahame

    Grahame Senior Member

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    The whole idea is absurd, abhorrent and deplorable.
     
  5. eco4560

    eco4560 New Member

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    I wonder how much oil energy it takes to make one kg?
     
  6. labradel

    labradel Junior Member

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    a lot more than a grass fed cow i bet
     
  7. Spidermonkey

    Spidermonkey Junior Member

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    Hi Guys,

    Grahame, I agree with you this sounds like a piece of 1984style sci-fi. But to play devil’s advocate, some predict the Earth will reach apopulation of 9 billion by 2050. Economists feel that the increased demand for meat will drive prices upbeyond the reach of many working class people around the world. So is it abetter alternative to famine given that the amount of viable agricultural landis decreasing faster than it can be rebuilt?

    Not that I support artificial food but what are the alternatives if it is the only way to keep up with increasing global demand?
     
  8. labradel

    labradel Junior Member

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    maybe a reduction of the population is a better stategy than to try to produce meat in this manner
     
  9. TheDirtSurgeon

    TheDirtSurgeon Junior Member

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    Sounds like Soylent Green....

    Spidermonkey, it's a good question, but I'd have to say no, it's not better. Feeding a famine with minimum rations only serves to prolong the misery, as food aid to Africa and other parts of the world has repeatedly shown.

    On the other hand... rumors abound of some elite conspiracy to control the population. I hear tell of vaccinations handed out in Third World countries that accidentally -- or "accidentally" -- cause sterility. True or not, I don't know. But maybe a bad plan is better than no plan. I guess that's playing devil's advocate too.
     
  10. annette

    annette Junior Member

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    Most of the processed food for sale is crap already. This just adds to the pile of tripe being dished up as food. Even artificial sweetener, aspartame, is made from the faeces of bacteria. On the bright side I think it will just push people into appreciating real food and maybe start growing and eating their own produce. I really don't know how the population is going to be fed in the future, I think many will go hungry.
     
  11. Pakanohida

    Pakanohida Junior Member

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    the computer to run the dna tests take oil & precious metals
    the computer to run the dna tests had to be made overseas, and it had to be shipped to where ever the lab is.. more oil & fuel
    gotta pay the company, the companies people, and all the people involved in getting the dna computer to the lab.

    then we gotta make the glass, and that needs sand.
    gotta shovel the sand, and do enough of that in a day to make it profitable.
    gotta pay the shovel operator, the fuel for the shovel, the company people involved with that... and then the fuel for shipping the sand to the glass making plant.

    then we gotta pay more in fuels for heating up the sand to make the glass... mind you, this is all kinda glib but accurate.
    then we gotta pay for the machines, the metal & other components that make up the machines have to be extracted like the sand and all that has to be paid for.

    then we gotta pay for the technicans university degree and all that infrastructure and the fuels along with that,
    then we gotta pay for the lab materials the lab technician uses, and all the infrastructure with shipping and getting the materials for all that stuff.

    I see a trend, work in shipping... ;)

    Then we have to take into account the person who drives out to the ranch to get samples from the cows, that takes gas, infrastrcuture, and so on.
    I am sure the farm where the samples taken were compensated and so on...

    Wait, what the hell is the point of this by now? Do we even remember?

    Well, lets look at the DNA lab, they have to have had the building made, and all the people who made it had to be compensated, the fuel costs taken care of and so on.
    then there is the janitor who sees everything, goes through the garbage, and cleans up every night. He needs health care, as do all the other employees from the start of this rant to the end of it, and we barely even touched on CEO's, VP's secretaries, secretary lingerie, mistresses, late night dinners to get permission to do illegal corporate activities, security companies and the list just goes on.

    So, IMO, we are at a 7 trillion dollar burger that most likely is so horrid tasting there was no point in making it in the first place.



    Personally, it would be far better to just buy grass fed natural / organic beef from a neighbor of mine.
     
  12. eco4560

    eco4560 New Member

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    I think 'they' have forgotten that you can get meat that way....
     
  13. Grahame

    Grahame Senior Member

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    There is nothing about this concept that is good. It will do the exact opposite of what it's supporters would have you believe, just as GMO's are proving to do. It would lead to more starvation and more disease. It will lead humankind further down the track to extinction. It is perhaps the most stupid thing I have ever heard and I have heard some doozies.

    When you try to solve a problem with the same level of consciousness that created it, you just create an even bigger problem...

    We would be better off smashing the test-tubes and using the shards to rid ourselves of the people who are perpetuating this rubbish Fair dinkum, humankind has cracked! we have gone mad and now dwell in the land of lunacy, thinking we will cure ourselves by moving further down into the depths of insanity.

    This is not the work of the devil which is in need of advocacy. The devil would be sitting back in his fiery chair watching mankind the way we watch stupid fat old men on a tiny kids bike come to an ungainly end on Funniest Home Videos. The Devil is pissing himself with laughter, having never thought of anything so diabolically amusing. There is no greater devil than the human ego.

    To me human culling seems a more palatable idea than this, not to mention more sensible and more effective.

    I'm just going to walk away now shaking my head and wondering what tripe they will serve up next.
     
  14. Finchj

    Finchj Junior Member

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    Disgusting. And I bet companies won't have to tell consumers that their meat is cultured in a factory.
     
  15. Pakanohida

    Pakanohida Junior Member

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    Uhm, don't buy meat at Walmart. Someone brought some over to BBQ here & I wouldn't cook it. I couldn't identify the cut of meat at all & I can break down a cow or pig with sharp tools like no ones business. I LOVE FOOD DAMMIT!

    Oh, and the FDA already announced they don't have to tell us some 10+ years ago.
     
  16. TheDirtSurgeon

    TheDirtSurgeon Junior Member

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    But tripe is real food from real cows! It makes yummy menudo! Better tripe than test tube meat. :)
     
  17. Grahame

    Grahame Senior Member

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    I was thinking that when I wrote it. :)

    But, then again the stupidity might stretch to them growing artificial tripe! Sell it to the 3rd World folks! Genius!!
     
  18. aroideana

    aroideana Junior Member

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    Years ago a mate was selling cheap burgers in his shop , a 'vege' burger was .50c extra but still made from the same patties , he got 'no name' ones and they were 100% TVP [ thats textured vegetable protein ] so meat free meat has been around for ages .. We have a local source of grass fed beef '''Bingle Bay Beef' it tastes awesome .. also a 'organic' butcher not far away down my road . feed the man meat ............
     
  19. labradel

    labradel Junior Member

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    i have been (for about 4 years now) growing ,slaughtering, and butchering my own damara sheep and it feels very good to know where the meat comes from, what the animal has been eating , what age it was , how old it was AND HOW IT DIED,it seems to be much more affordable this way, i know that the animal and the meat has not travelled a long distance ( approx 500 meters from paddock to plate.) The progression to artificial food is just plain scarey not to mention stupid.
     
  20. Try Reason

    Try Reason Junior Member

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    Seems like the problem is "how do we feed 9 billion people in 2050" and the answer is apparently to make food more artificial in order to produce it at a faster rate and hence people populate at a faster rate etc, etc. I think they're looking at the problem backwards but heck, there must be a squillion dollars to be made out of 9 billion people. Nature is gong to throw the switch before lab meat becomes a 'norm'. Perhaps more people will be thinking of survival than gravy trains by then. 'Course, none of it will be our doing...
     

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