Why Laboratory-Grown Meat Is Not Vegan

On August 5, 2013, Dutch scientist Mark Post presented the worlds first laboratory-grown burger at a press conference, where he shared the patty with two food critics. Although the foodies found the flavor lacking, Post stated that the purpose of the exercise was to show that it could be done; flavor could be improved later. Laboratory-grown meat may seem at once a Frankenfoods nightmare, as well as a solution to the animal rights and environmental concerns regarding meat-eating. While some animal protection organizations applaud the idea, meat grown in a laboratory could never be called vegan, would still be environmentally wasteful, and would not be cruelty-free. Laboratory-Grown Meat Contains Animal Products Although the number of animals affected would be greatly reduced, laboratory-grown meat would still require the use of animals. When scientists created the first laboratory-grown meat, they started with muscle cells from a live pig. However, cell cultures and tissue cultures typically do not live and reproduce forever. To mass-produce laboratory-grown meat on an ongoing basis, scientists would need a constant supply of live pigs, cows, chickens and other animals from which to take cells. According to The Telegraph, Prof Post said the most efficient way of taking the process forward would still involve slaughter. He said: Eventually my vision is that you have a limited herd of donor animals in the world that you keep in stock and that you get your cells from there. Furthermore, these early experiments involved growing the cells â€Å"in a broth of other animal products,† which means that animals were used and perhaps killed in order to create the broth. This broth is either the food for the tissue culture, the matrix upon which the cells were grown, or both. Although the types of animal products used were not specified, the product could not be called vegan if the tissue culture was grown in animal products. Later, The Telegraph reported that pig stem cells were grown using a serum taken from a horse fetus, although it is unclear whether this serum is the same as the broth of animal products used in the earlier experiments. Posts final experiments involved shoulder muscle cells taken from two organically raised calves and grown in a broth containing vital nutrients and serum from a cow fetus. Its Still Considered Wasteful Scientists are hopeful that laboratory-grown meat will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but growing animal cells in a laboratory would still be a waste of resources, even if the cells were grown in a vegan medium. Traditional animal agriculture is wasteful because feeding grain to animals so that we can eat the animals is an inefficient use of resources. It takes 10 to 16 pounds of grain to produce one pound of feedlot beef. Similarly, feeding plant foods to a muscle tissue culture would be wasteful compared to feeding plant foods to people directly. Energy would also be required to â€Å"exercise† the muscle tissue, to create a texture similar to meat. Growing meat in a laboratory may be more efficient than feedlot beef because only the desired tissues would be fed and produced, but it cannot be more efficient than feeding plant foods directly to people. However, Pamela Martin, an associate professor of geophysical sciences at the University of Chicago, co-authored a paper on the increased greenhouse gas emissions of a meat-based diet over a plant-based diet, and questions whether laboratory-grown meat would be more efficient than traditional meat. Martin stated, â€Å"It sounds like an energy-intensive process to me.† As reported in the New York Times, Post replied to a question about whether vegetarians would like lab-grown meat, Vegetarians should remain vegetarian. That’s even better for the environment. Perpetuating Animal Use and Suffering Assuming that immortal cell lines from cows, pigs and chickens could be developed and no new animals would have to be killed to produce certain types of meat, the use of animals to develop new types of meat would still continue. Even today, with thousands of years of traditional animal agriculture behind us, scientists still try to breed new varieties of animals who grow larger and faster, whose flesh has certain health benefits, or who have certain disease resistance. In the future, if laboratory-grown meat becomes a commercially viable product, scientists will continue to breed new varieties of animals. They will continue to experiment with cells from different types and species of animals, and those animals will be bred, kept, confined, used and killed in the never-ending search for a better product. Also, because current research into laboratory-grown meat is using animals, it cannot be called cruelty-free  and purchasing the product would support animal suffering. While laboratory-grown meat would probably reduce animal suffering, it’s important to keep in mind that it is not vegan, it is not cruelty-free, its still wasteful, and animals will suffer for laboratory-grown meat.

The Beliefs That God And Love - 1375 Words

God and love are two words that I find intriguing since their definitions vary depending on who is defining it and their experience. The meaning of these words had raised my curiosity. The faithful beliefs that God and Love exists, the skeptical say those are just myths while others spend their life looking for them in the wrong places. I was baptized as a catholic when I was five, but no one ever asked me if that was something I wanted for myself. I went to church on Sundays mornings; I never understood any of the words the father was saying under his breath. It was a mumble I heard from far away. I looked around, and I realized I was not the only one trying not to fall asleep. When I reach the age for my first communion I had to memorize the orisons and prayers of the holy rosary, hail Mary, our father, among others. I was taught to bend my knees in front of a statue of a crucified man with a crown of thorns. His expression of sorrow and the whisper of people praying behind me made me uncomfortable but I follow the protocol. As I grew older I learned about the crusades and the used of God to justified violence. I questioned his existences, yet, if he was real, I refused to believe that he was present at this moment. If he exists why would he want to divide us like politicians do? Why should he create frontiers and discord among his own creation? Maybe, he will not, but a culture could. The same way I was taught to memorized prayers I hardly understand men could createShow MoreRelatedSummary Of The Symposium 1373 Words   |  6 Pagesfocus on the god Love and its merits. To pass time while they drink, Eryximachus suggests that each of the guests orate a eulogy of love. The guests proceed to participate in oration; however, their analysis of love may not be as objective as it seems. Rather than focus on an impartial view of the god, many of them have their own personal beliefs that they promote in each of their speeches. Several speeches heavily deviate from a speech about love, and turn it into a speech that uses love to supportRead MoreEuthyphro, A Dialogue Written By Plato1099 Words   |  5 Pagesâ€Å"Euthyphro†, a dialogue written by Plato, Euthyphro is faced with a series of questions from Socrates regarding what piety is. Euthyphro’s answers continuously contradict one another, and he cannot create a definition. Euthyphro makes reference to the Gods when stating a definition, which leads to the questions, is Euthyphro a theological voluntarist? After examining the claims of Euthyphro and the definition of theological voluntarism, it will become apparent that Euthyphro is not a theological voluntaristRead MoreThe Concepts Of Religious Faith1182 Words   |  5 Pagestheology, belief and spirituality are all interconnected and very easy to get mixed up. This is because they all have something to do with the other. Richard P. Mcbrien explains how religious faith, theology, beliefs, and spirituality are all connected. Theology follows faith and belief follows Theology. Faith is our personal knowledge of God through human experiences and our openness to his love. Theology is our understanding of faith as revealed by God and our articulation of it. Beliefs are acceptingRead MoreThe Ethical Dilemma Of Voluntary Euthanasia1125 Words   |  5 Pagesshe will be a burden on them. She wants to be euthanized to end her suffering There is an ethical dilemma granting Joni her wishes. I could forgo my Christian beliefs and find justification in assisting Joni with euthanasia. According to Humphry in his article, â€Å"Many Christians who believe in euthanasia justify it by reasoning that the God who they worship is loving and tolerant, would not wish to see them in agony† (Humphry, 2000, p. 5). To resolve this dilemma, I could choose to do one of the following:Read MoreThe Beliefs Of A Christian932 Words   |  4 Pages(iii) Their beliefs as a Christian. Over the years my Christian Beliefs have evolved, and I am a grateful for that. I have found that these conversations can turn negative very quickly without grace and love, for everyone is on journey, specifically the individuals I live life with that are experiencing homelessness and displacement. I do my best to be sensitive to everyone’s current understanding of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. I find that when I am interacting and discussingRead MoreChristianity1417 Words   |  6 Pagesindividual believers and their communities. This contribution will be assessed using the common characteristics of beliefs, sacred text and writings and ethics. Christianity is a religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus. Christians share a set of beliefs that are important to their faith, they believe that God created the universe, God is a single ruler, Jesus is the son of God, Jesus suffered and was crucified for our sins and Heaven and Hell. Christian’s believe that when Jesus died andRead MoreMorality As Good Or Bad? Essay943 Words   |  4 Pagesdone this or he ought to have done that.† How can these be unless there was a supreme morality that we could compare our actions and thoughts against?† - C.W. Lewis, Author of â€Å"Mere Christianity† – The definition of morality is, best described as, â€Å"beliefs about what is right behavior and what is wrong behavior. The degree to which something is right and good. The moral goodness or badness of something†, according to Merriam-Webster Dictionary. An article from, Pursing the Truth Ministries, (http://wwwRead MoreEssay Antony Flew: The Existence and Belief Of God1741 Words   |  7 PagesAntony Flew: The Existence and Belief of God Antony Flew starts by telling the audience this story of two explorers that accidentally came upon a garden in a jungle. In this garden, there were many beautiful flowers and weeds. One explorer says, some gardener must tend this plot. While the other disagrees, there is no gardener. So, these two explorers tried to figure out who was right and who was wrong. They waited the whole night, but no gardener was ever seen. Then the BelieverRead MorePoem Analysis : The Little Black Boy 1296 Words   |  6 Pagesâ€Å"Through primrose tufts, in that green bower ,The periwinkle trailed its wreaths† showing his love for the natural world and how powerful it is in his view as he takes it to the same level as god in the lines â€Å"to her fair works did nature link ,the human soul that through me ran† implying that nature created the human soul ,as god did . The setting of the poem is reflective of William Wordworth’s belief also shown in his other poems, that only in nature’s splendour will a man find himself and hisRead MoreThe Common Prayer By Thomas Cranmer1526 Words   |  7 Pagesinsists that maintaining two prayer books is essential to the unity of the ACC. Consequently, the ACC is now without consensus on prayer or belief in worship (lex orandi: lex credendi). Traditional Anglicanism embraces Prosper of Aquitaine’s maxim, best known by its Latin tag, lex orandi, lex credendi (the law of prayer grounds/establishes the law of belief). The intimate relationship between the Gospel, liturgy, and service underlies this theological principle. Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi enshrines

Life or Death Free Essays

The death penalty is the center of a highly publicized controversy. The sentencing of the 18-year-old American Michael Fay to a caning in Singapore and Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun’s unequivocal public renunciation of capital punishment have intensified current debate over punishment in general and capital punishment in particular—the topic of this essay. The Fay controversy and the Blackmun declaration raise deep questions about how to get â€Å"the punishment to fit the crime† (Bedau 67). We will write a custom essay sample on Life or Death or any similar topic only for you Order Now This is a difficult issue. Why do, or should, we seek the death of some criminals? How might we define death punishment, the justification of which is being debated here? The argument of this paper is that punishment must involve unpleasant consequences for the one being punished of capital crimes – death. The myth persists that by sanctioning â€Å"an eye for an eye† the Bible is calling for the death sentence. Take a careful look. The same Mosaic laws (to be found principally in Exodus XXI and Deuteronomy XIX) that are all too commonly assumed to condone capital punishment also call for death. The Hebrew text, â€Å"An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,† was meant to prohibit mass killings (Bedau 240). Is it justifiable for an authorized representative of society to inflict death on those found guilty of committing capital crimes? On the issue of capital punishment, there is as clear a clash of moral intuitions. Justice requires payment in kind and thus that murderers should die. Surely, the most convincing argument for the death penalty is that it protects innocent people by stopping convicted murderers from committing murder again. The death penalty is marginally necessary to deter crimes better than less severe penalties. More significant results come from the capital punishment’s restraining effect on the much larger population where can be future killers—what criminologists name as general deterrence. Testimony for death penalty’s general deterrent effect is found in three sources: logic, firsthand reports, and social science research. Logic presents the conclusion that the capital punishment is the most effective deterrent for some kinds of killers. As Professor James Q. Wilson has said: â€Å"People are governed in their daily lives by rewards and penalties of every sort. We shop for bargain prices, praise our children for good behavior and scold them for bad, expect lower interest rates to stimulate home building and fear that higher ones will depress it, and conduct ourselves in public in ways that lead our friends and neighbors to form good opinions of us. To assert that ‘deterrence doesn’t work’ is tantamount to either denying the plainest facts of everyday life or claiming that would-be criminals are utterly different from the rest of us† (Bedau 189). Many murderers on death row declare that they did not think of the death penalty when they killed people. This is surely true. That is exactly the point. If they had thought of future death penalty, they would not have committed their horrible murders. The death penalty for the murderers makes a number of assumptions about the relationship between death punishment and the well being of those who suffered loss as a result of the crime. It is assumed that there is a â€Å"zerosum† relationship between the welfare of the victim’s relative and that of the offender: the greater the suffering to be inflicted on the offender, the better the victim’s loved ones should feel (Bedau 231). Perhaps a linkage of the selected penalty to the feelings of satisfaction of the victim’s relatives becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, with the relatives feeling rewarded by the jury’s choice of death penalty. The death penalty serves to release tensions in people, that it makes them feel that justice is being done. However, the imposition of the death penalty must be constitutional which imposes a dual procedure for the death penalty: first, conviction beyond a reasonable doubt for the act(s); and second, a separate sentencing hearing in which evidence relevant to personal culpability is admissible. The court, prior to imposition of the death penalty, have to find the existence of certain aggravating factors and the absence of relevant mitigating factors (for example, age, psychiatric history, family background, and the like); the death penalty judgment, in turn, is subject to appellate review as its fairness and the absence of invidious factors. Works Cited Bedau, Hugo Adam. Debating the Death Penalty: Should America Have Capital Punishment? The Experts on Both Sides Make Their Best Case. Oxford University Press: New York. Publication Year: 2004.    How to cite Life or Death, Essay examples