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Psy Baba
That was zen, This is Tao



Registered: 01/30/06
Posts: 16,430
Loc: The land of Ports.
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Scientists Flesh Out Plans to Grow (and Sell) Test Tube Meat
#8270362 - 04/11/08 04:50 PM (15 years, 10 months ago) |
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In five to 10 years, supermarkets might have some new products in the meat counter: packs of vat-grown meat that are cheaper to produce than livestock and have less impact on the environment.
According to a new economic analysis (.pdf) presented at this week's In Vitro Meat Symposium in Ås, Norway, meat grown in giant tanks known as bioreactors would cost between $5,200-$5,500 a ton (3,300 to 3,500 euros), which the analysis claims is cost competitive with European beef prices.
With a rising global middle class projected by the UN to double meat consumption (.pdf) by 2050, and livestock already responsible for 18 percent of greenhouse gases, the symposium is drawing a variety of scientists, environmentalists and food industry experts.
"We're looking to see if there are other technologies which can produce food for all the people on the planet," said Anthony Bennett of the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization. "Not only today but over the next 10, 20, 30 years."
Rapidly evolving technology and increasing concern about the environmental impact of meat production are signs that vat-grown meat is moving from scientific curiosity to consumer option. In vitro meat production is a specialized form of tissue engineering, a biomedical practice in which scientists try to grow animal tissues like bone, skin, kidneys and hearts. Proponents say it will ultimately be a more efficient way to make animal meat, which would reduce the carbon footprint of meat products.
"To produce the meat we eat now, 75 to 95 percent of what we feed an animal is lost because of metabolism and inedible structures like skeleton or neurological tissue," Jason Matheny, a researcher at Johns Hopkins and co-founder of New Harvest, a nonprofit that promotes research on in vitro meat, told Wired.com. "With cultured meat, there's no body to support; you're only building the meat that eventually gets eaten."
Researchers can currently grow small amounts of meat in the lab, and have even been able to get heart cells to beat in Petri dishes. Growing muscle cells on an industrial scale is the next step, scientists say.
"That's the goal and it seems pretty clear from this conference that it's achievable," said Matheny on Thursday by telephone from the symposium.
Scientists are working on a variety of cell culture procedures. The cutting edge of in vitro meat engineering is the attempt to get cells to grow as if they were inside a living animal. Meat like steak is a complex combination of muscle, fat and other connective tissue. Reproducing the complexity of muscle is proving difficult.
"An actual whole muscle organ is not technically impossible," said Bob Dennis, a biomedical engineer at both North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina, who attended the conference. "But of all the tissue engineering applications it is by far the most difficult one."
While scientists are struggling to recreate filet mignon, they anticipate less trouble growing hamburger.
"The general consensus is that minced meat or ground meat products -- sausage, chicken nuggets, hamburgers -- those are within technical reach," Matheny said. "We have the technology to make those things at scale with existing technology."
At scale, in this case, would be thousands of tons per year, Dennis said.
But once the meat is made, consumer acceptance is far from assured. What cultured meat will taste like is up in the air. Some scientists think it could be used to create novel foods that won't be quite meat, but won't quite be anything else either.
"I was once at a conference of food designers and they really liked the idea that they were not bound to a certain product that we know," said Stig Omholt, a professor at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences and chairman of the In Vitro Meat Consortium. "We could make novel products."
But most of the trends in food run counter to high-tech meat production. Heirloom tomatoes, organic produce and free-range-raised meat that pack the aisles of Whole Foods harken to previous, lower-tech eras.
None of the experts were sure if there is a large market of early adopters who want to eat test tube meat for environmental, health or ethical reasons.
For all the talk of high-tech meat production, attendees of the first In-Vitro Meat Symposium didn't put their stomachs where their mouths were. Instead of sampling early versions of in vitro meat, they stuck to local fare.
"We had some excellent Norwegian salmon, which was very tasty," Bennett said.
ICK!
-------------------- --------------------------------------------------- Sit up and meditate, there's no time to contemplate. ------------------------------------------------- I have an international Hitech Psytrance project with a friend: BioChronic I make various form of Psytrance as a solo Project Dendriform
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leoside
AKA cannon fodder
Registered: 01/18/08
Posts: 1,489
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Re: Scientists Flesh Out Plans to Grow (and Sell) Test Tube Meat [Re: Psy Baba]
#8270370 - 04/11/08 04:52 PM (15 years, 10 months ago) |
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Fucking rights, I'd eat test tube meat all day.
-------------------- I watched with glee While your kings and queens Fought for ten decades For the gods they made
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Innominate



Registered: 06/12/05
Posts: 2,136
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Re: Scientists Flesh Out Plans to Grow (and Sell) Test Tube Meat [Re: Psy Baba]
#8270378 - 04/11/08 04:52 PM (15 years, 10 months ago) |
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That's fucking intense.
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Ferris
PsychedelicJourneyman



Registered: 03/12/06
Posts: 11,529
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Re: Scientists Flesh Out Plans to Grow (and Sell) Test Tube Meat [Re: leoside]
#8270379 - 04/11/08 04:53 PM (15 years, 10 months ago) |
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Would this be acceptable to vegetarians? I know it would satisfy my morals.
-------------------- Discuss Politics
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Coaster
Baʿal



Registered: 05/22/06
Posts: 33,501
Loc: Deep in the Valley
Last seen: 12 years, 4 months
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Re: Scientists Flesh Out Plans to Grow (and Sell) Test Tube Meat [Re: Ferris]
#8270384 - 04/11/08 04:53 PM (15 years, 10 months ago) |
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ive been hearing about this 4 so long its finally a reality
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Psy Baba
That was zen, This is Tao



Registered: 01/30/06
Posts: 16,430
Loc: The land of Ports.
Last seen: 2 years, 8 months
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Re: Scientists Flesh Out Plans to Grow (and Sell) Test Tube Meat [Re: Ferris]
#8270389 - 04/11/08 04:54 PM (15 years, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
Ferris said: Would this be acceptable to vegetarians? I know it would satisfy my morals.
no animals harmed.
-------------------- --------------------------------------------------- Sit up and meditate, there's no time to contemplate. ------------------------------------------------- I have an international Hitech Psytrance project with a friend: BioChronic I make various form of Psytrance as a solo Project Dendriform
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Nerotik
PersonalityChallenged



Registered: 04/04/08
Posts: 386
Loc: Somewhere between me and ...
Last seen: 1 year, 6 months
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Re: Scientists Flesh Out Plans to Grow (and Sell) Test Tube Meat [Re: Ferris]
#8270398 - 04/11/08 04:56 PM (15 years, 10 months ago) |
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I'm kinda torn on this one. On one hand it's helping the environment, on the other it's playing god to make complex proteins and muscle structures for human consumption with no idea of what the long term effects could be.
-------------------- Everywhere I go, I see myself.
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Psy Baba
That was zen, This is Tao



Registered: 01/30/06
Posts: 16,430
Loc: The land of Ports.
Last seen: 2 years, 8 months
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Re: Scientists Flesh Out Plans to Grow (and Sell) Test Tube Meat [Re: Nerotik]
#8270408 - 04/11/08 04:58 PM (15 years, 10 months ago) |
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Yeah, I am wondering what new dangers there will be.
Once cancer dies out like aids did, then what?
-------------------- --------------------------------------------------- Sit up and meditate, there's no time to contemplate. ------------------------------------------------- I have an international Hitech Psytrance project with a friend: BioChronic I make various form of Psytrance as a solo Project Dendriform
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Ferris
PsychedelicJourneyman



Registered: 03/12/06
Posts: 11,529
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Re: Scientists Flesh Out Plans to Grow (and Sell) Test Tube Meat [Re: Psy Baba]
#8270410 - 04/11/08 04:58 PM (15 years, 10 months ago) |
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I avoid meat more for environmental and, to a much lesser extent, health reasons. The article seems to claim that this would be better for the environment, but maybe the change is miniscule, I don't know. IE corn-based ethanol
-------------------- Discuss Politics
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Ferris
PsychedelicJourneyman



Registered: 03/12/06
Posts: 11,529
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Re: Scientists Flesh Out Plans to Grow (and Sell) Test Tube Meat [Re: Nerotik]
#8270414 - 04/11/08 04:59 PM (15 years, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
Nerotik said: I'm kinda torn on this one. On one hand it's helping the environment, on the other it's playing god to make complex proteins and muscle structures for human consumption with no idea of what the long term effects could be.
I can at least say I have no problem with the "playing god" part.
-------------------- Discuss Politics
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Nerotik
PersonalityChallenged



Registered: 04/04/08
Posts: 386
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Re: Scientists Flesh Out Plans to Grow (and Sell) Test Tube Meat [Re: Psy Baba]
#8270419 - 04/11/08 05:00 PM (15 years, 10 months ago) |
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Whats next is whatever we create or whatever nature creates to combat us. On our current path in the eco-system we are not only trying to kill ourselves but the earth itself is trying to kill us to save the rest of the planet.
-------------------- Everywhere I go, I see myself.
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Amber_Glow
Sat Chit Anand


Registered: 09/02/02
Posts: 1,543
Last seen: 11 years, 2 days
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Re: Scientists Flesh Out Plans to Grow (and Sell) Test Tube Meat [Re: Ferris]
#8270505 - 04/11/08 05:15 PM (15 years, 10 months ago) |
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I wonder if they will make the meat healthier. I mean, if they are already engineering it, can they take out the cholesterol so that it isn't so bad for you?
And can't they just synthesize new protein products that don't have to be likened to already existing meats at all?
I am vegetarian for ethical and health reasons. If they can make "meat" cruelty free and without unhealthy characteristics I would have no problem eating it.
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Nerotik
PersonalityChallenged



Registered: 04/04/08
Posts: 386
Loc: Somewhere between me and ...
Last seen: 1 year, 6 months
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Re: Scientists Flesh Out Plans to Grow (and Sell) Test Tube Meat [Re: Amber_Glow]
#8270511 - 04/11/08 05:16 PM (15 years, 10 months ago) |
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If your worried about Cholesterol just eat Elk or Bison instead of beef... GOOD stuff.
-------------------- Everywhere I go, I see myself.
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Coaster
Baʿal



Registered: 05/22/06
Posts: 33,501
Loc: Deep in the Valley
Last seen: 12 years, 4 months
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Re: Scientists Flesh Out Plans to Grow (and Sell) Test Tube Meat [Re: Amber_Glow]
#8270517 - 04/11/08 05:18 PM (15 years, 10 months ago) |
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u play god when u drop acid growing meat is playing god just as much as tuna farmers are
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dark1313star
A shroom with a view

Registered: 02/24/08
Posts: 190
Loc: Burlington VT
Last seen: 14 years, 10 months
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Re: Scientists Flesh Out Plans to Grow (and Sell) Test Tube Meat [Re: Coaster]
#8270547 - 04/11/08 05:26 PM (15 years, 10 months ago) |
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test tube meat.... gggggggggg....
-------------------- when the going gets weird, the weird turn pro
what you're feeling is premature enlightenment
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Baby_Hitler
Errorist



Registered: 03/06/02
Posts: 27,613
Loc: To the limit!
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Re: Scientists Flesh Out Plans to Grow (and Sell) Test Tube Meat [Re: Psy Baba]
#8270589 - 04/11/08 05:36 PM (15 years, 10 months ago) |
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I want human steak made from my own cells.
-------------------- Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ (•_•) <) )~ ANTIFA / \ \(•_•) ( (> SUPER / \ (•_•) <) )> SOLDIERS / \
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Psy Baba
That was zen, This is Tao



Registered: 01/30/06
Posts: 16,430
Loc: The land of Ports.
Last seen: 2 years, 8 months
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Re: Scientists Flesh Out Plans to Grow (and Sell) Test Tube Meat [Re: Baby_Hitler]
#8270619 - 04/11/08 05:45 PM (15 years, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
Baby_Hitler said: I want human steak made from my own cells.
CANNIBAL!
-------------------- --------------------------------------------------- Sit up and meditate, there's no time to contemplate. ------------------------------------------------- I have an international Hitech Psytrance project with a friend: BioChronic I make various form of Psytrance as a solo Project Dendriform
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Baby_Hitler
Errorist



Registered: 03/06/02
Posts: 27,613
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Last seen: 6 hours, 15 minutes
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Re: Scientists Flesh Out Plans to Grow (and Sell) Test Tube Meat [Re: Psy Baba]
#8270633 - 04/11/08 05:48 PM (15 years, 10 months ago) |
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*Meta-cannibal
-------------------- Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ (•_•) <) )~ ANTIFA / \ \(•_•) ( (> SUPER / \ (•_•) <) )> SOLDIERS / \
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