What’s the “beef” with lab-grown meat? Over the past few weeks, if not years, many people have been debating the effects of lab-based meats, also known as cultured or lab-grown meat, not only for our health and our free market, but also the effects it will have on our climate. As the debate grows more heated, consumers are just trying to figure out what the big deal with it even is. Shouldn’t we want the best food sources that use the least amount of energy and resources to produce? Shouldn’t we want to do what we can to protect not only our climate but also our free market?
Before we dig into this monstrosity of a subject, let me make one thing clear: everyone has a price that they can be bought for. Right now, there’s a lot of money to be made in the sake of “saving the planet.” Elitists and politicians have bought entire teams involving scientists, environmental activists, government entities, foreign countries and influencers, and even American influencers across the nation. They know how to present their claims in a believable way, even when all the research proves that the opposite of what they say is true. They run their marketing off emotion to make you feel scared and angry about what’s “being done” to the planet and have convinced many to give up vital food sources in the name of “climate control.”
Because they're so good at what they do, they don’t even have to buy off the average consumer. Convince a social media influencer that this all “feels right,” give just enough true data she’ll run it all over her platform with high emotions, and then thousands of opinions are formed, all while emotion is being presented as facts. Thousands more will soon be convinced, too. They were bought the minute they allowed social media to become their main source of information and allowed others to start feeding their thoughts right into the palm of their hands. Of course we all want to protect the planet. Without it, how would humans survive? Thinking about the climate and this world becoming uninhabitable is terrifying. And that fear is exactly the power they use to manipulate and control.
Now, let’s tackle this monster. There’s a lot of different aspects we have to look at, so grab your favorite jerky stick or two, and let’s dive in.
Lab-Grown Meats in a Free Market
Those yelling, “what about free markets?” If the food is high quality, and truly sustaining not only for our bodies but for our planet as well, by all means let’s keep it a free market! But like so many products on our store shelves, lab-grown meat is not about our health. It’s about control, manipulation, and the elimination of our true free market so they get the real “green deal” in their pockets and control of the system, and we have lab-based meat rations at astronomical prices.
The fact is, lab-grown meat costs thousands of dollars to produce one single ounce, the first hamburger produced cost $325,000. To produce 30 million pounds, the yearly consumption of America, would cost $650 million. Yet producers know it’s absurd to ask even a quarter of that price at the store. It has to be price competitive with real beef, so they are choosing to lose money hundreds of thousands of dollars. Investors and scientists have dumped billions into the production and research of lab-based meat, and billions more is still needed to perfect, perform health tests, and for innovation for much cheaper production. How will this strengthen our economy?
According to Forbes, lab-grown meat is not and will not be a profitable business for decades, if ever. Even if it becomes profitable the start-up costs are insane, conservatively starting at $450 million and reaching as high as $650 million. These small start-up companies will not make money soon enough, if at all, to survive on their own. More than likely, companies like Tyson and JBS will buy them which will quickly cause another monopoly that the natural beef industry is already battling with the same companies. To top it off, neither of these businesses are American-owned companies. When the real beef is gone, who’s to say these competitive and affordable prices will continue? Basic economics will always prove that without competitors prices will skyrocket. And that’s if the labs can even keep up with production of 30 million pounds a year to feed the entire nation.
If this idea of lab-grown meat takes hold and they eliminate livestock for natural food sources, where is the free market to grow and raise our own food for our family right from our backyards? Where is the free market for us to control what’s truly in our food? Where is the self-reliance and independence to feed ourselves when we’re so heavily dependent on elitists setting food prices and mandating stores? Once the foreign countries own the labs, who will feed America? “Whoever controls the oil controls the nations. Whoever controls the food controls the people.” It’s not about having a free market. Ultimately, the path is to get rid of cattle and livestock completely to ensure our complete food dependency on the wealthy.
American Beef Efficiency
No where in the entire world can produce beef like American cowboys and cowgirls can. No where else can they use the least amount of resources and develop a cow bigger and healthier in the least amount of time. While even cereal prices are skyrocketing as high as $10 a box, the price for one pound of ground beef is averaging $7, making it the obvious choice for dinner even amidst inflation. With 94 million head of cattle in the country, American ranches produce 30 million pounds of beef every year, worth $8 billion in the U.S. economy is 2019 alone. American owned meat processing plants are being built more and more thanks to the Trump Administration. 95% of farms and ranches are American family owned and operated, meaning, we still care about the people. It not only surpasses our health and diet requirements, economically it is one of most efficient and effective ways to provide both protein and nutrients to our country.
Cattle are Critical for the Environment
There’s a reason one of the top four rules of Ecology is “Nature Knows Best.” She does. Millions of years ago, God created living organisms to be part of incredible cycles to renew not only themselves but entire ecosystems. When those living organisms die, nature has cycles to regenerate and reproduce new growth. Everything is connected. Everything receives what it needs through another part of the ecosystem. Without one thing, another would be lost. God knew to account for the methane burps of cattle, the fossil fuels of dinosaurs, the dying decay of past organisms, and even responsible civilization of humans as He provided multiple ways for us to thrive and renew using the resources He gave us.
Through the biogenic carbon cycle, cattle play a natural and crucial part in renewing our climate and helping breakdown natural greenhouse gasses. According to the United States own government website, cattle and all livestock on the entire American continent only make up 4% of the greenhouse gasses each year. Agriculture comes in at 13% when transportation comes in at 28%. Not to mention the fact that you can spend all night in a closed garage with a cow and be just fine, and, well, not so fine with a car. What everyone also fails to mention is that of the 13% of greenhouse gasses that agriculture produces, 20% is naturally recycled and broken down through the biogenic carbon cycle, photosynthesis, carbon sequestering, etc. It’s also not new warming, since everything they cycle has already been in the climate for thousands of years. What can our transportation do for us to recycle the new warmth they do produce?
Cattle also take plants that are completely useless to humans and create a powerhouse of nutrients that are more bioavailable to humans than any plant source ever could be. Despite popular belief, most cattle run on land that is unable to produce any sort of crop or anything of benefit for human consumption- expect good ol’ beef. One claim that lab-grown meat is better is because it frees land for carbon capturing, but cattle and plants already do that.
Raising cattle on land is also a multipurpose use, meaning you can do more than just raise cattle on it, like oil use, hunting, recreation, wood, wildlife preserves, etc. Climate crisis options such as solar panels are a one purpose use and a waste of good agricultural land that could be used for cattle and wildlife. Cattle do not chase elk away and actually help plants to reset themselves to be healthier and better tasting for the elk and other wildlife! Last but not least, cattle that run on BLM land especially are one of the biggest ways we can prevent forest fires. There is not enough wildlife to feed and keep the growth down. Cattle help ensure there is little extra growth that would otherwise become extensive fuel for a forest fire.
Climate Effects of Lab Based Meats
While using labs may seem cleaner for the environment, they may actually end up being far worse with all the energy they plan to use. One study showed that if the labs used traditional energy sources, they would be 4-25 times worse for the environment than real cattle meat production. The only way they could actually help the environment is if they used renewable energy sources, but majority of the companies plan on using the national energy grid. This grid is already far overused and meant for public infrastructure, not a business that may never be profitable, as Forbes pointed out.
If they truly cared about the climate, and if there truly was a crisis, they would be looking more intently on the areas that actually add new warmth to the climate, that can’t renew and recycle the gasses emitted, and not so much on cow farts. Now, in no way are we claiming we should limit or eliminate transportation or even use of fossil fuels. They are still very much needed today and our independence from other nations depend on them! Electricity just doesn’t cut it, even if our grids in the nation were able to power everything. Not to mention, many of the natural resources such as generators and windmills are still dependent on oil for production and maintenance.
Our point is to raise awareness of the intensity elitists have on our food supply while they claim natural products are terrible and food, they themselves produce in a lab is completely sustainable and healthy. Someone needs to be asking these questions and demanding answers before things go much farther. Plus, have you noticed that American oil is bad and must be shut down, yet oil from Ukraine is just fine? Or why the Biden administration has sent billions to Ukraine farms and is trying to eliminate American agriculture completely with claims of “climate crisis?”
Lab-Grown Meat Health
Lastly, lab-grown meat has claims that it’s not only better for the environment, but it’s also healthier than anything nature has given us through livestock. If you look at the cost it takes to produce the lab-based meat as mentioned above, can we really trust that they’ve taken things slow enough to know that everything is safe? That they didn’t just rush things along, so they didn’t pour even more billions than what was necessary?
The protein contained in lab-grown meat could be defined as ultra-processed, which scientists have warned us for years about the dire health consequences, including cancer, from consuming. If you look at the main ingredients of lab-based meats, you will see seed oils and sugars, as well as a list of many additives and chemicals necessary for the growing process. This includes but aren’t limited to calcium propionate (causes migraines and headaches), sodium nitrate (causes high blood pressure), and Interleukin 6 (chemical that causes cancer). Meanwhile, natural beef (obviously) has no added chemicals or preservatives and is a powerhouse for protein, heme iron, vitamin Bs, vitamin K, Omega 3, copper, magnesium, and more. What about the fat content in real beef you ask? “More than half the fatty acids found in beef are monounsaturated fatty acids, the same type of healthy fat found in avocados and olive oil.” The list about their health differences could be an entire article in itself. Remember, even saturated fat and cholesterol have important uses in our bodies. It’s not meat causing the problem, it’s all the other highly processed foods that have doused our diets with these fats with the sugars and chemicals added. Highly processed foods are the true culprit.
Cattle Supply Much More than Beef
As far as the “no slaughter” title lab-based meat has received, it still derives from actual bovine cells, meaning we still need cattle to create the meat. While they can take it without killing the animal, it will not be a true vegan food source because it is still a product of an animal.
If we stop the process and consumption of cattle, we lose far more than just our meat. Our economy consumes the entire cow from the nose to the toes, whether for food or byproducts such as glue, plywood, installation, shoes, chewing gum, toothpaste, collagen, vitamins and supplements, and my personal favorite, toilet paper. We would have to substitute the cow byproducts found in thousands of products including basketball courts, footballs, even fuel and tires for the elitists’ private jets and thousands of crucial products in the medicinal world.
Effects on Food Economy
Perhaps the biggest argument? Lab-grown meat does nothing for our current food economy. More than 44 million American people, including children, are starving. Has it really been necessary to dump billions into a source when nature has already provided one for us and continue to let American people go hungry? The average American family spends $5,703 a year on groceries. If we took the start-up cost of just one lab at $450 million and used it to feed families instead, that would feed almost 80,000 families for an entire year!
So now tell me: where does our crisis truly stand?
Simply put, lab-grown meat is not the miracle cure everyone was hoping it would be. From the cost to the effect on the climate, and especially the health concerns it causes, lab-grown meat is simply a ploy by the wealthy to control the poor. We would be far better off to not only invest in all natural American food sources but, most importantly, American families.