What used to be lab-grown meat or meats that have grown in a laboratory originating from the cultured cell is now turning into a reality. Numerous start-up companies are starting to develop pork, seafood, poultry, and beef in a laboratory. Undeniably, companies around the world are moving fast to bring hamburgers and other lab-grown meats to the market.
Even though this development is undeniably a great contributor to any nation's economy, it does not mean it always brings favorable impacts in general. Specifically, debates arise among scientists who argue if lab-grown meat can worsen climate change. University of Oxford senior environmental researcher Marco Springmann said lab-grown meat for a sustainable diet won't solve "anything from an environmental perspective" because the energy releases are dramatically high.
The Promise Lab-Grown Meats Brings
A Daily Express reports some promises of the lab-grown meat. One of the advantages indicated is sustainability. In the United States, consumers are reported to have eaten around 26 billion pounds of beef each year, demanding a massive industrialized livestock system. Another promise is animal welfare. Growing meats in the laboratory can be both animal welfare and environmentally friendly.
Other than sustainability and being environmentally friendly, lab-grown meat products have many other health benefits, too. A health report presents that "cultured meat can be engineered" by modifying the fat and essential amino acids' profile and adding bioactive compounds, vitamins, and minerals that either matches or exceeds the quantity in natural meat.
The Challenges
Two main ideas tend to get most of the consumers excited about meats grown in the laboratory: that they should get their hamburgers for their sustainable diet, rather than a slaughterhouse. However, a new study recommends that the second idea is not correct and that lab-grown meat products can worsen climate change. The same study presents that these meats may accelerate the environmental problem in the long run, compared to how a regular beef does.
Additionally, the researchers note that other studies computing the cattle's greenhouse gas emissions have taken the gases together like they are all the same but unfortunately, they are not. Cows may emit a lot of methane, but this is undoubtedly bad for global warming as compared to carbon dioxide (CO2).
This does not mean though that CO2 cannot harm the environment. It also can, but not as bad as the methane, which the cow emits. Also, CO2 can more than a hundred years and, it is common knowledge that what emits a lot of CO2 is a laboratory, and this includes that place where meats are cultured.
