Above is a link to an article written by The Guardian. Since I have no other research or information, at this time I’m simply passing on the link for consumer-awareness. Below is testimony from a consumer of the first lab-grown chicken… also courtesy of The Gaurdian;
https://www.theguardian.com/food/2020/dec/04/no-kill-lab-grown-chicken-burger-restaurant-israel
it’s helpful to be mindful of the cruelty meat-production animals suffer as well as the negative impact of raising production-animals on the environment. I’ll only very briefly outline these for your education prior to the read of The Guardian’s article. . Keep in mind then that the abuses are much more horrific including torture and malicious acts. This article won’t touch on that and will be brief and more reader-friendly. There are many documentaries and archived news broadcasts on this topic if you want to learn more.
See for example a “must see” video: Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home on YouTube:
Here’s a link for 45 other documentaries:
…and here’s a link to a BIG MOVE by Big Business re no longer covering expense accounts to pay for meals where meat was purchased:
http://time.com/5338287/wework-meat-vegetarian-company-environment/
Here are some facts drawn from ASPCA and other sources regarding the impact of meat production in these agricultural animals and some of the environmental impacts :
• chickens for agriculture meat-production are housed in sheds// chicken domes with inadequate ventilation. As many as 20,000 birds can share one shed/ dome. The chickens are either loose on the floor or stacked in metal crating & as many as 6-8 high. Their excrement is not cleaned for the 6-16 weeks it takes for chicks and poults to become production sized. The ammonia level is so high that workers cannot enter without gas-masks. The chickens suffer burning eyes, nasal/ esophageal/ tracheal and respiratory distress. Their skin burns where it’s literally uncomfortable to be in ones own skin.
• Chickens are now grown at alarming rates to reach production-size. In 1925 it took 16 weeks for chickens to reach 25# in body weight. Today chickens can way almost 50# in 6 weeks. This would be the equivalent of a 2 month old baby weighing 600#. There are significant body pains associated with that rate of growth.
• Chickens experience REM sleep like you and I do. When our eyes are exposed to light if awoken overnight,, particularly white or blue spectrum lights, our melatonin or “sleep-hormone” is instantly turned off. We’re then wide-awake. Egg-laying chickens are exposed to white lights 24/7 to keep egg-production high. Bodies that engage in REM sleep and are deprived of REM sleep go “crazy” with psychological distress.
• Some processing factories utilize boiling water to remove feathers from birds. These birds are hung upside down on an assembly line conveyor by their feet. They are dunked head first into the scalding water for feather-removal while still alive. This process doesn’t kill all of them. They have more abuses to go if not lucky enough to have perished in this part of the processing.
Beef & veal cattle also face many hazards These hazards range from dietary like being fed corn vs grass and suffering kidney disease and other factors associated with this inappropriate diet. They suffer mad-cow disease (which actually first appeared in sheep in England) due to being fed cow meat and other animal remains in the form of a brown powder known as “animal-protein. “ This “animal protein also appears in your dog & other animal kibbles. Reclamation Factories process meats from toad-Jill, duck and diseased livestock…. and even your pets from your veterinarian’s freezer. Animals dying of cancers and more can end up being fed to pets and livestock.
Veal calves never see the light of day or get to roam around a grass field. This keeps their muscles from developing and toughing up/ keeping our meat tender. They are housed in tiny domes like the pet-igloos sold as dog houses and outgrow them quickly. Beef cattle are also partially raised in overcrowded lots where sickness spreads and injuries occur. Their injuries aren’t tended to. They are typically killed via machete to the throat and then hung by 1 rear legs in support of their enormous weight to bleed-out. Cows flail in the ground prior to being suspended as life slips from them. All the while the next cow & cows are forced to watch while waiting for their turn. Their vocal bays of fear and cries can be heard for miles.
the global impact that raising animals for agriculture is enormous. Currently the “body count” of life forms on the planet today persists if 60% agricultural animals, 46% humans and 4% wildlife according to the ASPCA The climate change is in part due to methane emissions from cows. The grazing land is taped to the roots as cows pull grass with tongue CS chew off blades above ground like horses do. Add the mechanical damage from hooves penetrating the top-soul and we’re headed for shutter dust-bowl when fed appropriately on grasslands. It’s a loose-loose scenario. Let’s not forget ground-water pollution from animal waste, particularly raising hogs for meat production.
The planet and welfare of livestock was significantly healthier when we all farmed our own food. We’re miles away from that today. Our society has become calloused to animal cruelty when we accept it as the norm in order to enjoy a hamburger if chicken nuggets. Our planet is screaming for reform. Could this lab-raised meat be a solution? For me and until another option presents, I hope folks choose to purchase cruelty- feee…. free-range and grass fed animals for their meat consumption. I advocate going back to raising our own meat-animals on a private and personal farms or co-op-ing!
