Is "laboratory-grown" meat a better option for our health and the well-being of the planet?
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What if there were a way to eat meat without having to kill billions of animals each year, exacerbating the climate crisis and causing high cholesterol levels
Uma Valietti, founder and CEO of Upside Foods, said in email that "these products are not vegetarian or veggie; they're real meat made without animals." Valletti explained that the process of producing grown meat is "similar to brewing beer, but instead of growing yeast or microbes, we grow animal cells."
Scientists begin by sampling a small cell of cattle animals, such as cows or chickens, and then identifying cells that can reproduce
Valiettei added "From there, we put these cells in a clean, controlled environment, and feed them the essential nutrients they need to reproduce normally," Veleti said, noting that "conditions that normally exist inside the animal's body can be recreated "
In addition to mitigating the slaughter of animals, cultivated meat can also help slow climate change caused by emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane. The diet is responsible for about a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions, mostly from animal agriculture .
Currently, Singapore is the only country to have approved cell-based meat for consumption. Until then, cultivated meat and its potential benefits, which positively affect animal and human health and the environment, are more of a hope than a promise .
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Laboratory grown meat in a petri dish Silicon Valley: unseat an obsolete technology in this case, animals and do well by doing good. In addition to mitigating animal slaughter, cultivated meat could also help slow climate change driven by greenhouse gas emissions such as carbon dioxide and methane. The food system is responsible for about a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions, most of which are from animal agriculture. Example Lab grown meat could cut down greenhouse gas emissions by 96% according to Oxford. Switching to lab grown meat can cut our water consumption between 82 and 96%, depending on the animal. Animal rights are protected as animal meats are not mass produced. Farm space is saved with less live animals overall.In addition to the risks of exposure to infectious materials and hazardous chemicals, environmental hazards include noise, fire incidents, chemical spills, adverse events of equipment malfunction, and ergonomics. Laboratories are increasingly aware of quality and safety best practices
Consuming cultivated meat will increase access to food and as a result, can potentially reduce world hunger. Cultivated meat uses a fraction of the natural resources used by conventional meat, and does not require raising or slaughtering animals because the initial sourced cells grow indefinitely.In addition to mitigating animal slaughter, cultivated meat could also help slow climate change driven by greenhouse gas emissions such as carbon dioxide and methane. The food system is responsible for about a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions, most of which are from animal agriculture.Lab-grown meat actively relies on animal exploitation and animal ingredients. Lab-grown meat currently exploit animals because efforts to research, create, and scale lab meat require that flesh biopsies be taken from living animals regularly for the purpose of extracting stem cells from them.Lab-grown meat is being considered as a potential solution to food insecurity in impoverished countries as it takes much less time to grow, uses fewer of the planet's resources and no animals need to be farmed or slaughtered.There are disadvantageous aspects too. Cell-based meat is expected to consume higher energy and produce more carbon dioxide than potent methane, impacting the environment. There are ethical questions and religious issues raised by the communities to use Bovine foetal blood as a cultured ingredient.The most important lab safety rule is to know the location of and how to use safety equipment, such as a fire extinguisher. In laboratories, chances of accidents always exist despite any precautions that are taken. This is because there is always a chance of human error.An unclean laboratory is as harmful as an inaccurate result. The apparatus, especially the glassware, used in labs must be cleaned after every use. The remnants of previous tests, moisture, or even dust particles can alter the laboratory results. This can result in a waste of money and energy.