Sunday, April 27, 2008

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Animal meat without the animal

Slate has an article on recent developments in the possibility of growing meat in-vitro from stem cells, much as organs are now being grown for transplant. A fascinating addition to the food-ethics debate as it relates to meat and animal welfare - and (surprisingly, to me) PETA has endorsed the efforts in the form of a contest!

Which begs the question, as in so many debates, which is more important: the ideological principle of not viewing animals as under the domain of humankind, for our use as we please; or the pragmatic principle of reducing actual harm to animals, given the reality of a world that is unlikely to go vegetarian?