Environmental lunatics and biotech firms pumping out “lab meat” have joined forces to push the “your cat’s going to destroy the Earth with its meat habit” line in the service of haranguing the UK government into handing over public cash to the industry — for the Earth.
In actuality, they’ve been pushing this brand of environmental propaganda for a long time now.
But whereas the previous strategy of just guilt-tripping pet owners about Climate Change™ has apparently failed to achieve the intended results, now they’ve resorted to trying to convince you that dogs and cats eating what is euphemistically termed “lab-grown meat” is a boon for their health.
Animals “thrive on meticulously formulated plant-based diets,” as a matter of fact.
Via Earth.com (emphasis added):
Meeting a pet’s nutritional needs fundamentally involves supplying adequate protein, amino acids, vitamins, and minerals, rather than providing specific meat sources. As researchers have found, pets can thrive on meticulously formulated plant-based diets.
Several studies completed by late 2024 suggest dogs and cats can thrive on vegan meals. In certain cases, these diets may lead to improvements in areas such as obesity control and allergic responses.
Furthermore, investigations into feeding behavior indicate that pets generally accept vegan meals as readily as they do meat-based ones, based on measures of excitement and enjoyment.
Related: Supercomputer Given Authority to Decide Whether to Block Out Sun For Climate Change
Here, Lucy at The Guardian explains that lab-grown meat for pets is really just the same thing as sourdough bread: “lab-grown meat is not an artificial food; biologically it is meat.”
Via The Guardian (emphasis added):
Lab-grown meat may sound futuristic, but the process is actually straightforward. It starts with the harvesting of a small number of animal cells, then the cells are fed essential nutrients to help them replicate and grow, similar to a yeast culture on a petri dish. But unlike a whole living animal, there are fewer limitations on size, there are no welfare concerns, and the setup does not require such vast land, water and energy resources.
Talk of growing meat in a lab often makes people feel uncomfortable. In a world of genetic modification, E numbers and ultra-processing, we have learned that artificial equals bad. But lab-grown meat is not an artificial food; biologically it is meat. The difference is simply the method – a method not unfamiliar to anyone who nursed a sourdough starter during lockdown…
Lab-grown meat provides a purer meat product that is free from infection and is genuinely cruelty-free. More than this, lab-grown meat is an important solution to the unsustainable environmental impact of a booming industry. According to estimates from the European Environment Agency, lab-based meat cultivation uses 45% less energy than traditional beef farming; if powered by renewable energy, research suggests a 92% reduction in overall greenhouse gas emissions, plus water and land use reductions of 78% and 95% respectively. Doggy dinner time has significant real-world consequences.
Related: Study: The Science™ Pins Climate Change™ on Human Breathing
After meandering through the tired talking points and trotting out the standard dubious statistics about how pets’ meat consumption is killing Mother Earth, Lucy gets to the point, which is that she wants the British government to bankroll the lab meat revolution, pivoting from a moral argument to an economic one.
Continuing:
Against this backdrop, the UK’s departure from the EU may provide an upside. The question then is: how quickly can we benefit? As the nascent industries in Europe and the US become embroiled in regulatory tangles and face down the wrath of God – or at least of the Republican party – the UK has an opportunity to profit from an industry on the brink of an economic boom.
To do so, government action is needed – and regulatory approval was only the first step. The next challenge is reducing the cost of production. Meatly, the UK-based pet food business granted approval for their product in July, have made significant progress in increasing the yields from their starter cells (or “culture medium”) but they are not yet producing at commercially viable levels. To help get lab-grown pet food on to shelves worldwide, the British government should throw its weight behind the fledgling industry, providing financial assistance to aid research and development.
So, some vegan cats are going to die. You want to make a techno-fascist omelet, you gotta break some eggs.
You wouldn’t want to stand in the way of progress, would you?
