His article “breaks down the science and the law around this disgusting product and [ ] suggests that [we] should think twice before joining Bill Gates in celebrating this fake meat.”
Lab-grown meat is created using immortalised cell lines, which are cells that have been genetically modified to divide indefinitely, similar to cancer cells, by switching on the enzyme telomerase, which allows them to dodge ageing and grow endlessly.
These immortalised cells share certain traits with cancer cells, including non-stop growth, genetic chaos and energy overdrive, which raises concerns about the safety of consuming these cells, as they can become unstable and pile up weird changes that make them unpredictable.
The issue of lab-grown meat is not just a scientific one, but also a legal and regulatory one.
The legal status of lab-grown meat is also uncertain, as it does not meet the definition of “meat” under the Federal Meat Inspection Act, which defines meat as coming from the muscles of animals. And the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act requires food to be safe and labelled correctly.
Companies such as those backed by Bill Gates and regulatory bodies such as the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) and the United States Department of Agriculture (“USDA”) must consider the potential risks and consequences of producing and consuming these products.
The labelling of lab-grown “meat” is a
problem. The FDA and USDA have approved lab-grown chicken but this has
not clarified the legal issues. US law also bans food labels that
mislead people and courts have ruled that labels must be clear and can’t
just be technically true but they have to make sense to regular people,
which could lead to lawsuits and legal troubles for companies producing
lab-grown meat....<<<Read More>>>...
