According to the US News and World Report Alabama, Florida, Indiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska and Texas have banned (some temporary) the production and distribution of lab grown meat. On May 1st 2024 Florida Governor DeSantis said “Today, Florida is fighting back against the global elite’s plan to force the world to eat meat grown in a petri dish or bugs to achieve their authoritarian goals” after banning lab grown meat. Many others justify the bans because they claim that there are many health risks to artificial meats. 

But how are these cell cultivated meats made? Based on a video published by CNBC International, stem cells are taken from animals and put on cultivators where the cells are fed nutrient rich solutions so they multiply into muscle, fat, and connective tissue. More simply put, animal cells are taken and then scientists simulate the body’s conditions so that the cells can multiply in a similar way that they would when repairing themselves in the actual body. 

They estimate that 0.001 pounds of cow beef can create up to 4.4 billion pounds of beef. Honing our ability to use cell cultivated meat would significantly help us feed more people and help reduce the world’s greenhouse emissions since raising cattle and meat is substantially less environmentally friendly than the production of plant based foods. 

DeSantis’ comparison to lab grown meat and “forcing the world to eat bugs” is a complete exaggeration and misrepresents the process of cell culturing. Our newspaper advisor Ms Freeman when asked about if cultivated meat was an advantage or not she said, “There are good things about it, but it makes me question if it is really something humans were meant to do.” While this process should still be heavily regulated and tested before to make sure it is safe and will not cause health issues, cell cultivated meat can provide a lot of benefits.