3-D Printed Meat?

Oh, hell, yes. Finally!

I've been a vegetarian for decades, first and foremost to avoid contributing to the horrific abuse regularly shown towards food animals in our society that is so institutionalized and so well-documented.

But according to an online article, there's a way to have your beef and eat it, too, without harming another living creature, because a company called Modern Meadows is working on an idea that gives all us animal advocates (and some Star Trek fans) wet dreams. (Remember the "replicator" machine in Star Trek--originally used to synthesize meals on demand)?

"3D printing has been used to create running shoes, medical implants, and, to the delight of firearm enthusiasts, a .22 caliber handgun. So why not a 3D-printed steak for the grill?

Modern Meadows is pitching bioprinted meat as a more environmentally-friendly way to satisfy a natural human craving for animal protein.

So far, bio-printing has been applied to build three-dimensional tissues and organ structures of specific architecture and functionality for purposes of regenerative medicine. Here we propose to adapt this technology to building meat products for consumption."

I might be tempted to actually indulge in animal flesh that causes no living being to suffer or be killed.

Although for health reasons, I'd certainly not be eating it often.

I've heard of this technology before and am thrilled that it's going to be available at some point in the future.

Now, I'm generally an organic kind of girl, and I avoid food made from GMO's (genetically modified organisms), so this might sound a bit odd, but if this meat can be proven to be safe to consume, it certainly would help alleviate the suffering of so many animals.

Some would say it's unnatural and "gross" to eat lab-grown meat, but I maintain it's more unnatural to inflict unnecessary cruelty on any living creature (why do we protect cats and dogs and dismiss farm animals en masse?).

I'm sorry if this offends some people, but when it comes to animal cruelty issues, I honestly can't think of too many things more offensive than a factory farm or a slaughterhouse.

Having said that, most of the people I love dearly eat meat regularly but I believe that if they truly thought about the process, most of them would stop eating it immediately, because they're compassionate people, and certainly would never intentionally harm an animal.

Paul McCartney expressed it well when he said, "if slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian". (Well, not everyone, but at least many people).

Will you try this lab meat when it's available?