By John Schwartz
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals wants to pay $1 million for fake meat - even if it has caused a "near civil war" within the Norfolk-based organization.
The group said it would announce plans today for a $1 million prize to the "first person to come up with a method to produce commercially viable quantities of in vitro meat at competitive prices by 2012."
The idea of getting the next Chicken McNugget out of a test tube is not new. For several years, scientists have worked to develop technologies to grow tissue cultures that could be consumed like meat without the expense of land or feed and the disease potential of real meat.
An international symposium on the topic was held this month in Norway. The tissue, once grown, could be shaped and given
texture with the kinds of additives and structural agents that are now used to give products like soy burgers a more meaty texture.
New Harvest, a nonprofit organization formed to promote the field, says on its Web site, "Because meat substitutes are produced under controlled conditions impossible to maintain in traditional animal farms, they can be safer, more nutritious, less polluting and more humane than conventional meat."
Jason Matheny, a doctoral student at Johns Hopkins University who formed New Harvest, said the idea of a prize for researchers was promising. Citing the example of the Ansari X Prize, a competition that produced the first privately financed human spacecraft, Matheny said, "they inspire more dollars spent on a research problem than the prize represents."
Ingrid Newkirk, a founder of PETA, said she had been hoping to get the organization involved in advancing in vitro meat technology for at least a decade.
But, Newkirk said, the decision to sponsor a prize caused "a near civil war in our office" because so many PETA members are repulsed by the thought of eating animal tissue even if no animals are killed.
Lisa Lange, a vice president of the organization, said she was part of the heated exchange.
"My main concern is, as the largest animal rights organization in the world, it's our job to introduce the philosophy and hammer it home that animals are not ours to eat."
Newkirk said the disagreement was natural, adding, "We will have members leave us over this."
"People say animal rights people can't agree," she said. "Well, human beings can't agree. In any social cause community, there are people who strive for purity."
Her goal, she said, was more pragmatic. "We don't mind taking uncomfortable positions if it means that fewer animals suffer." In that way, she said, "in vitro meat is a godsend."
For some already working in the field, the news was greeted with a wary welcome.
Henk P. Haagsman, a professor at Utrecht University in the Netherlands and an in vitro meat research pioneer, said he welcomed the prize competition.
"It will hopefully spark more interest to invest in the technology," Haagsman said.
But he said he would not like to see the field dominated by the animal welfare issue because environmental and public health issues are such important "drivers for this research." The Netherlands has put $5 million into in vitro meat studies.
Another scientist at Utrecht, Bernard Roelen, said via e-mail that he was "rather surprised" by news of the competition, but said that even with strong financing, it would be extremely difficult to produce commercially viable quantities of in vitro meat before 2012. Roelen added, "For me as a researcher, the announcement does not mean so much."
Why not? "I do research because I want to understand fundamental mechanisms," he said, "not to gain fortune."
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I believe human beings are omnivores and I think we should always be focused on making the process of raising and harvesting the meat we consume in the most humane way possible. If meat could really be created without killing a thinking, feeling creature, I'd be all for it. I can't imagine it could possibly be an affordable option for the masses though. Another concern would be the future of bovines in our country. They need a lot of land and a lot of feed. As people own most of the land that grazers live on now, the only reason to allow them to live and eat has been for profit. What will become of animals such as cattle if humans ever have a true alternative to raising livestock?
is this the same peta that murders puppies and kittens?
So peta wants to spend millions to make steak, but they don't want to spend some money by finding homes for kittens and puppies like they told the vets they'd do. Oh! and because the kittens and puppies stink, it's okay to pull the van next to a dumpster and murder the kittens and puppies in the parking lot and throw them in the dumpster. If they believe animals and people are equal, then why did their lawyer say that the dead animals were just trash and belonged in the dumpster. The bunch of psychos need to be thrown out of Norfolk and banned from ever returning.
PETA's Change in Philosophy
WOW I can't beleive PETA would actually put money behind something other than undercover video recording at processing plants, causing awkward confrontations at the circus, or dressing up like fast food characters covered in blood. I applaud the efforts of PEAT's main stream to promote something the community can appreciate. Lets hope the days of radical attention getting are gone.
How can you
ethically squander a million dollars on such foolishness when that money could be used to spay or neuter the pet population or stop the cruel dog fighting? PETA needs to re-examine its own ethics and priorities. Better yet the Pilot needs to stop providing free advertising and print for their liberal buddies at Peta.
Logic problem
There's a serious logic problem with the concept of animal rights and diet. If humans and animals are at the same level as far as rights, and it's okay for animals to eat other animals, then it follows it's okay for humans to also eat other animals.
My wallet says differently
"My main concern is, as the largest animal rights organization in the world, it's our job to introduce the philosophy and hammer it home that animals are not ours to eat."
Maybe not yours to eat, because you MADE that choice. I, and millions of others, have not. I choose to eat something or not, you do not choose for me, the same as I do not choose for you. If I could choose for you, I would choose some serious mental health sessions and possibly confinement...
How About
How about they take that $1million and save some of the animals they take in instead of killing them all.
Good Idea!
Indeed, why grow, then slaughter, a central nervous system when it's just the muscle tissue that we're interested in eating? Eating non-sentient animal tissue should be no more abhorrent than eating non-sentient vegetable tissue. One caveat though: the veggies are still better for you.
It's one thing to be against eating animals for ethical and/or health reasons, another thing entirely when the qualms are irrational.
You know...
...I tried a Boca Burger at my company's last cookout. I have to say it was quite good. It was tangy with a texture not at all displeasing. What I found to be better was putting it on top of a medium rare (forget the 160 degree wimps) 1/3 pound sirloin burger with cheese. Made me feel good because I had my veggies with my burger!
But I digress...
Wasn't it PETA that started a campaign and tried to sue KFC because they didn't raise real chicken, but laboratory created chicken parts? Interesting...
Frankly, if I want a steak, I want to know it came from a stunned, throat-cut and slaughtered bovine rather than a test tube...
PETA
Do the words Soylent Green ring a bell?
I'm a hypocrite
Because I love a good steak but I can appreciate where vegetarians are coming from. I believe that our descendents will look back with amazement that we actually comsumed animal flesh instead of growing it in a lab. The future of meat consumption will not be slaughter.
Of course, many of you that will post today will argue that nothing will take the place of a real prime rib but your argument is moot - all of you older folks will be dead before the science is perfected. I suspect there will come a time when you won't be able to tell the difference.
So funny
Even the head of the wacko group likes a good juicy steak every now and then I guess. If animails are not there for us to eat, what are they there for?
Soy Burgers
I usually prefer lambasting Peta, but, in this case, I tend to agree on a point...Anyone who can make a Soy Burger, taste even close to a hamburger, deserves a million dollars.