The journal Environmental Sciences published an article by researchers from the British Adam Smith Institute on artificial meat, which caused a noticeable reaction from scientists from almost all over the world. And there are good reasons for that.
On the one hand, a person, according to academic science, simply cannot exist without the use of animal protein. And no matter how vegetarians of all stripes and trends prove the opposite, the fact remains - humanity is not yet ready (neither physically, nor even morally) to give up meat. True, there is still progress in this regard, given that in ancient times man did not disdain (and did not even see anything wrong with it) cannibalism, and today he even prohibits the consumption of humanoid apes (New Zealand). True, along with this, dolphins (Denmark, Japan), dogs and many other animals, which even surpass primates in their mental development, are massively slaughtered for meat.
On the other hand, modern livestock production provides up to 20 percent of greenhouse gases, which leads to global warming and a planetary environmental disaster. And this is without taking into account the fact that for the sake of animal husbandry in the world up to 90 percent of agricultural land is used (in the UK up to 99 percent, according to the above article), on which, moreover, all kinds of chemical fertilizers are used, which also bring enormous harm to the environment.
Synthesized meat, it is indicated in the article, is the way to save mankind, and, both from the point of view of ethics (it is immoral to eat such creatures for oneself), so in the direct physical sense, because animal husbandry (more and more intensively developing) clearly leads our planet to environmental disaster. What prevents you from solving this problem?
Let's make a reservation right away that the article provides such an encouraging and, one might say, simply fantastic fact that today a hamburger made from laboratory meat does not exceed £ 8 at a price, whereas just five years ago the cost of such an amount of synthesized animal protein reached £ 200,000. Can you imagine what will happen in another 5 years?
It would seem that you can celebrate the victory, this is a real technological revolution! But … not everything is as simple as the scientist sees it. In reality, a number of problems arise:
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- firstly, the authentic texture of factory meat has not yet been created, without which it is practically useless to promote artificial animal protein. However, scientists hope that this problem will be solved in the coming years;
- secondly, the costs of producing artificial meat are still too high and require a lot of energy, the production of which is again directly related to the environment;
- finally (which may become the main obstacle in resolving this issue), cattle breeders of the world, for example, the USA, Mongolia, and so on, will certainly oppose this.
The main takeaway from the Adam Smith Institute article is that the benefits of factory meat are enormous, both economic, environmental and ethical. Therefore, sooner or later, it will certainly appear on the shelves of grocery stores and supermarkets. Another thing is how quickly and painlessly it will happen for our society. And here there are many different opinions and forecasts …