PETA Endorsing meat from a test tube…situational ethics at its best

So this one really is interesting to me. PETA apparently is offering $1 mill for anyone that can come up with a way to create a meat source from a test tube. The idea here being that the current meat industry that is encouraged by a massive over consumption and operates on some pretty harsh treatment of animals should be put to an end by growing the meat in-vitro instead.

You can imagine the philisophical merry-go-round that this could end up being. Would you grow the whole animal and then slaughter it or would you grow just the breast meat and then freeze, pack and ship it to the grocer? If you grom the whole animal (eg: clone it), then the argument for the ethical prevention of an innocent furry and lovable calf would seem to still be a problem. Albeit it was test-tube generated, you have theoretically created another full fledged animal simply replacing the one sitting on the farm raised naturally for the same purpose. Should you choose the test-tube route, well, the list ranges from ethical issues (does a test-tube chicken leg have feelings?), to health issues (what the hell kind of whacked-ass genetic virus will this cause to be created taking food disease to a whole new level. I mean, what if the chicken breast get’s sick and spreads it’s disease to chickens around the world and we can’t cure it? Suddenly chickens go extinct from their test-tube generated cousin) and even to legitimate flavor problems (Even beef now tastes like chicken) in the same way that banana candy never quite tastes like bananas.

If nothing else, PETA is creating an entry point for some serious questions that I think it will be healthy to have ourselves challenged to answer, or at the very minimum the minute this becomes political it’ll make for great television.

http://www.halflifesource.com/topstory/peta_offers_1_million_for_the_perfect_fake_meat/article1442.html