In March of 2023, the Italian government supported a bill that bans lab-grown “foods”. Why? Because Italy cares about the impact lab-meats could have on their people, their farmers, and the environment.
Will American state governments do the same?
Take Action Now: Ask Your State Legislators to Ban Lab-Grown Meat
Advocates of lab-grown meat claim that these synthetic products are safe, ethical and that they will help battle climate change. But consumers have questions and concerns about the ethics and safety of the processes and the ingredients used to produce this product.
Center for Food Safety has also raised health concerns about lab grown meats and the processes used to produce them. And the claim that this product is ethical virtually evaporates when we acknowledge the use of fetal bovine serum (FBS) in creating this product, as FBS is obtained by sucking the blood out of a living cow fetus, a process that the fetus does not survive.
And scientists at UC Davis have raised concerns about the environmental impact of lab-grown meat, stating that: “...lab-grown or ‘cultivated’ meat’s environmental impact is likely to be ‘orders of magnitude’ higher than retail…” pointing out that their study found that lab grown meat can have up to 25 times the global warming potential of conventional (Factory Farm) meat. And they go on to say that even with significant advances in the process of manufacturing synthetic meat, it would only be able to achieve a global warming impact potential that was closer to conventional meat. Which is a staggeringly ineffective potential that is still many years off, especially when you consider the fact that regenerative agriculture can already produce carbon-negative meat.
Despite all of this, the US government has been moving full speed ahead with the approval process. On March 21st, 2023 GOOD Meat announced that their lab-grown synthetic “chicken” product had received safety approval from the FDA in the form of a “no questions” letter, stating that the lab-grown “chicken” is “as safe as comparable foods produced by other methods” And on June 21st, 2023, GOOD Meat announced that their lab-grown synthetic “chicken” product had been approved for commercial sales by the USDA.
With all of these issues, we feel that the precautionary principle should be applied to all lab-grown meat. This means that all lab-grown products should undergo rigorous third-party pre-market safety testing, and environmental impact assesments. Until that is done, all lab-grown meat should be banned.
Take Action Now: Ask Your State Legislators to Ban Lab-Grown Meat
*SAMPLE TEXT TO YOUR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS*
You will be able to modify this text on the next page, after entering your information.
Dear [Member of State Legislature]
I am writing to you today to ask you to take a stand against lab-grown meat.
In March of 2023, the Italian government supported a bill that bans lab-grown “foods”. (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-65110744) Why? Because Italy cares about the impact lab-meats could have on their people, their farmers, and the environment. It’s time that America follows that lead, and I’m asking you to create a bill to ban lab-grown meat in our state.
Advocates of lab-grown meat claim that these synthetic products are safe, ethical and that they will help battle climate change. But consumers have questions and concerns about the ethics and safety of the processes and the ingredients used (https://organicconsumers.org/whats-actually-in-good-meats-lab-grown-chicken/) to produce this product.
Center for Food Safety has also raised health concerns (https://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/blog/6458/is-lab-grown-meat-healthy-and-safe-to-consume) about lab grown meats and the processes used to produce them. And the claim that this product is ethical virtually evaporates when we acknowledge the use of fetal bovine serum (FBS) in creating this product, as FBS is obtained by sucking the blood out of a living cow fetus, a process that the fetus does not survive (https://slate.com/technology/2017/07/the-gruesome-truth-about-lab-grown-meat.html).
And scientists at UC Davis (https://www.ucdavis.edu/food/news/lab-grown-meat-carbon-footprint-worse-beef) have raised concerns about the environmental impact of lab-grown meat, stating that: “...lab-grown or ‘cultivated’ meat’s environmental impact is likely to be ‘orders of magnitude’ higher than retail…” pointing out that their study found that lab grown meat can have up to 25 times the global warming potential of conventional (Factory Farm) meat. And they go on to say that even with significant advances in the process of manufacturing synthetic meat, it would only be able to achieve a global warming impact potential that was closer to conventional meat. Which is a staggeringly ineffective potential that is still many years off, especially when you consider the fact that regenerative agriculture can already produce carbon-negative meat (https://blog.whiteoakpastures.com/blog/carbon-negative-grassfed-beef).
Despite all of this, the US government has been moving full speed ahead with the approval process. On March 21st, 2023 GOOD Meat announced (https://www.goodmeat.co/all-news/good-meat-receives-us-fda-clearance) that their lab-grown synthetic “chicken” product had received safety approval from the FDA in the form of a “no questions” letter, stating that the lab-grown “chicken” is “as safe as comparable foods produced by other methods” And on June 21st, 2023, GOOD Meat announced (https://www.goodmeat.co/all-news/good-meat-gets-full-approval-in-the-us-for-cultivated-meat) that their lab-grown synthetic “chicken” product had been approved for commercial sales by the USDA.
With all of these issues, we feel that the precautionary principle (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15968832https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15968832/) should be applied to all lab-grown meat. This means that all lab-grown products should undergo rigorous third-party pre-market safety testing, and environmental impact assesments. Until that is done, we are asking that you work to ban all lab-grown meat in our state.Thank you for your consideration of this important topic.
[Your Name]