Being a carnivore is philosophically untenable
From a philosophical perspective, Washington University in St. Louis graduate student Adam Shriver says we humans need to do all we can to eliminate the suffering of animals we eat. He thinks the solution ought to be that we all become vegetarians so we have no more need for the feedlot, but that’s not exactly realistic.
He suggests it might be possible to genetically alter animals so that they don’t feel the pain caused by factory farming conditions and our current methods of slaughter, but of course the pain animals feel isn’t the only problem caused by large-scale meat production, and knocking out animals’ ability to feel pain would probably set them up for even greater horrors than they now experience.
Factory farming of animals is very resource intensive, using a lot of water and feed, producing a lot of waste and greenhouse gasses. The working conditions aren’t great for the people who take part in the system, and food-borne illness is more rampant now than ever because of the close quarters animals share and the way meat is produced.
Could meat from a test tube save the planet?
For all those reasons, it’s not too surprising that People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is offering a million dollar prize to the first person or company that develops a way to make meat in a test tube that doesn’t harm any animals in the process.
That goal is at least 10 years away, experts say, but the science behind it — the same ideas that go into the study of tissue regeneration — is already out there. Oxford University has estimated that lab-grown meat would result in 80 percent fewer greenhouse gasses being emitted compared to the current factory farming system, would use 90 percent less land and water and ultimately cost about the same amount (though development of the process will be expensive, of course).
But there’s still a bit of an ick factor that will have to be overcome (though arguably less than with cloned meat), and some argue that people don’t need to eat as much meat as they currently do, and if everyone enjoyed meat more sensibly it could be sustainably produced by small farmers.
What’s more, it turns meat into a highly processed food and takes people one step further away from an understanding of where their food comes from.
(By Sarah E. White for CalorieLab Calorie Counter News)
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Eating meat isn’t sweet, could meat from a tube save the world?