Where's The Beef?

[Earth Walker]

There's just no end to the "messing with Mother Nature"
stories. The next Frankenfood monstrosity we have to look
forward to is cuts of meat grown in a laboratory.
NASA has funded a team from Touro College in New York to
figure out a way to grow meat in a petri dish in order to feed
future astronauts and space travellers.
But when they succeed, you can be sure that lab-grown meat
will be in the supermarket aisles and stuffed between the stale
bun of a future McBurger.
So far, the researchers have succeeded in taking live chunks of
muscle tissue from goldfish and growing them by 14 per cent in
a cell-culture fluid.
Growing larger chunks of meat is proving challenging, but
eventually they will succeed.
Vladimir Mironov, director of a lab at the Medical University of
South Carolina, says the future of lab-grown meat lies in
processed food such as sausages and hamburgers, but his
grand dream is of growing a perfect filet mignon.
Eventually, he says, we will be able to grow fresh sausage overnight at home in a special machine just like a home bread maker.
Oh, Yum!!!! http://users.superford.org/deadman514/smilies/l.gif

[Melysande]

Funny. I never hear anyone complaining about the lab-grown skin that gets put on burn victims. That tissue is never looked on as Frankenskin.

I think I'd rather eat "Frankenfood" than freshly killed meat anyway. While I feel bad for the meat animals I've eaten, I have no intention of ever becoming a vegetarian. But if this is a way to have my meat and eat it, too, I'm all for it.

[StormChaser]

Theres a slight difference between something you ingest and something topical.

Quite frankly im still pissed that my tomatos are spliced with scorpion genes.. sure they are bigger, but they have weird texture, and they aren't that gorgeous red anymore.. and we don't really need to talk about how 'off' the taste is.

They are also trying to splice pig genes and spinach in order to make bacon more lean. Dr. Suess was close.. it's not Green Eggs and Ham, but rather Green Ham and Eggs. *trys not to ralph*

[Azure]

My mom holds that all this altering of food is one of the reasons Americans have weight and other health problems, along with chemicals, growth hormones and antibiotics - I'm beginning to be persuaded.

My Dad's a hunter, and I have to say I'd rather eat a bird he shot cleanly or a fish he caught than anything else. More human and cleaner in many ways.

[Melysande]

Eh, Ingested food that eventually becomes your skin or skin that doesn't get ingested and still becomes your skin. I don't see much difference, but to each his own. :)

**laughs** Love the Seuss reference.

My dad would agree about the tomatoes. I eat tomatoes and they taste like tomatoes to me, but he eats them and is never satisfied. **shrugs** I dunno.

Azure ~ Possibly one of the reasons. But then there's fast food and Starbucks and even just "Health Food" kiosks.