Vegetarians - would you eat meat if it did not entail killing?

Discussion in 'Vegetarian' started by walsh, Feb 20, 2012.

  1. walsh

    walsh Senior Member

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    Soon we will be able to produce hamburgers in the lab - synthetic meat grown from stem cells to create muscle and fat tissues will mean that no animals need to be killed.


    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16972761



    Will this development change your diet or your opinion on eating meat? Tell us why or why not.
     
  2. midgardsun

    midgardsun Senior Member

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    No. Dont like industrial food. Dont like the texture and the taste of meat.
     
  3. walsh

    walsh Senior Member

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    Industrial food? What about the vegetarian industry?

    I find it rather hard to believe you'd rather have a carrot than a bratwurst. That's like saying you prefer tofu to chocolate.
     
  4. midgardsun

    midgardsun Senior Member

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    Thats not good, the problem is there as soon as people use machines to mistreat the soil and harvest/process plants.

    I prefer growing and processing my food without machines. Tastes way better and is much healthier and cheaper.

    For people who live in cities thats a problem but living in a city is so much more unhealthy in many other was that industrial vegan food is only a minor problem....
     
  5. Jo King

    Jo King wannabe

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    wow I never thought of you as a person that has a garden. Good for you for growing your own food. What do you grow?
     
  6. midgardsun

    midgardsun Senior Member

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    lol Ive written enough on permaculture, medical plants and mushrooms here.

    Now its not the season here, everythings frozen but I will try to grow everything I need next season again. Even tabacco and medical plants. And bamboo to produce stuff.
     
  7. wisp

    wisp Member

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    i wouldn't eat it , probably has so many chemicals in it,and is totally GM , i'll stick to my veggies,grains,beans and pastas thanks .
     
  8. ZiggyZuZu

    ZiggyZuZu Member

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    Yeah I'm siding with the others... Now that I've given it up, I could never go back to the texture of meat. Plus lab-grown meat scares me
     
  9. eggsprog

    eggsprog anti gang marriage HipForums Supporter

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    i'd have to agree and say no. i've gone a long time without meat and don't really crave it at all anyway. meat grown in a lab is gross to me, whether that is rational or not, i don't know.
     
  10. Willy_Wonka_27

    Willy_Wonka_27 Surrender to the Flow

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    This could never replace the meat industry. 27 million animals are slaughtered every day in the u.s. alone. There is no possible way they could match that in the lab.

    I personally would not eat the engineered meat because I don't believe meat is healthy to eat compared to fruits and vegetables.
     
  11. Meliai

    Meliai Banned

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    I'm not even a vegetarian, although I do eat a very limited amount of meat...but I would rather eat a carrot or any vegetable over meat any day! One thing I've really noticed about the American diet in the past few years (not sure if you're American or not) is that it focuses way too much on large, unneccessary meat portions and its all so heavy. Digestion is not a fun process with a heavy diet. A diet rich with vegetables, fruit, and whole grains leaves you with much more energy because you aren't wasting all your energy digesting food.

    In regards to the question posed in the OP, like I said I'm not a vegetarian but I would not trust lab-grown meat. I doubt it will receive the testing it needs to prove its safety because GM vegetables and fruit have certainly not been tested properly.
     
  12. walsh

    walsh Senior Member

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    Good point, our diets are much too heavy. I was approaching it from the flawed food-as-energy perspective. A hamburger has much more energy than a carrot, so therefore should be more desirable to organisms able to digest either. But of course when just about any food is available, too much can be a negative.

    Though I disagree with you on the digestion part. Since I switched to a primarily meat-based diet I've had no digestion issues at all. When I eat grains I can feel it all travelling uncomfortably through my GI tract, I get none of that with meat. I'm not sure it's about which foods are "heavier" - all food must be digested. Meat, vegetables, grains.

    It's not a nice thing to think about, is it? I don't know if farm-grown meat is trustworthy either, but somehow meat grown in a filthy paddock swarming with flies and bacteria is preferable to me over a sterile, clean lab with strict quality control.
     
  13. tuesdaystar

    tuesdaystar Interneter

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    I don't like meat mostly because I find it unpleasant

    The ethical questions take a side to my selfish desire for pleasure

    So no
     
  14. Duck

    Duck quack. Lifetime Supporter

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    I think the vegetarians here do not represent the broad population of vegetarians, but I still see many shying away from GM food without giving it a chance (despite the clear benefits it provides as far as space and overpopulation go), because of bullshit like "it's not natural" or "chemicals are evil!" or "industrial = bad" -- when really, everything is natural, everything is chemicals, and industry is absolutely vital to our current populace.
     
  15. walsh

    walsh Senior Member

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    Unless it's synthetic. I don't get how these 'eat natural' people usually don't have a problem with LSD, as a synthetic, unnatural drug.

    But yeah, everything is chemical, and synthetic products are no more likely to be harmful than natural ones.
     
  16. Duck

    Duck quack. Lifetime Supporter

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    No. Even that's made by natural processes, of natural materials, by beings of nature.

    There are times when it's relevant to call something natural (to basically point out that it's more natural, has less steps/abstraction in it's creation/happening); but there is never a time to call something unnatural.
     
  17. walsh

    walsh Senior Member

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    Manufacturing in a lab is not what we refer to as natural. LSD isn't found in nature - that's all. The language is stupid, I know, but it was invented by us and to that extent it is somewhat irrelevant to what something actually is.

    Under your definition nothing would be unnatural, so the word natural would not exist.
     
  18. Duck

    Duck quack. Lifetime Supporter

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    Nothing is unnatural; as nothing can be outside the laws of nature -- that doesn't mean there can't be degrees of how "natural" something is.

    Just because we make words, doesn't mean they are infallible. Words are just symbols of thoughts. Obviously, thoughts can be wrong.
    Also; not every adjective has an opposite.

    Unnatural is a misnomer, plain and simple.
     
  19. aesthetic

    aesthetic Z

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    Soon we wont be humans. If you fall into the trap of "Easy to make" and "Instant" or "This pill will fix you!" Your not far from becoming a cyborg. We are being fed chemical, which are either "Unatural" or comes from various natural lifeforms, which shouldn't mix. If they did, then the plant would already have the chemicals in them.

    Sure in a lab they can mix, but thats because we use unatural chemicals.

    So no, I would definitely stay away from Lab created abominations if they ever reach my market.
     
    1 person likes this.
  20. aesthetic

    aesthetic Z

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    Claviceps purpurea Lsd

    But I do agree with you on your statement
    Thought I should let you know that Lsd can be found in nature. So can ecstacy, and even some of the newer designer drugs like "Nightlights and Daylights"
     

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