(Spotlight4823)Laboratory Meat 31 October, 2011
Voice 1 Welcome to Spotlight.
I'm Liz Waid. Voice 2
And I'm Joshua Leo.
Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live. Voice 1 Imagine that you are sitting down to eat dinner with your family.
Today's meal is slow cooked meat and vegetables. This stew is warm and smells very good. However, there is something different about it. No animals were killed to make this meal. The meat does not come from an animal. Instead, it is from a laboratory. Would you still eat this dinner? Voice 2
This may sound like a strange idea but it is a real possibility.
Scientists have been working to grow meat “in vitro,” or in a laboratory, for many years. You may have heard another Spotlight program about in vitro meat. That program looked at a $1,000,000 award. The organization, PETA, offered this award. The award is for the creation of good-tasting in vitro chicken meat. No one has received PETA's award yet. However, scientists in the Netherlands have recently made a small amount of in vitro meat. Today's Spotlight program is about in vitro meat - both its problems and advantages for the future. Voice 1 Scientists in the Netherlands have been working for years to develop in vitro meat.
In the laboratory, they mix cells from a horse and a pig. They feed the cells a solution full of necessary nutrients. And they provide the cells with light to help them grow. The cells increase in number and grow into a small piece of muscle or meat. However, food and light is not enough. In vitro meat also needs exercise. Voice 2
Imagine a cow.
It walks each day in the field. This exercise helps its muscles grow bigger and stronger. If the cow did not walk, its muscles would become smaller and weaker. And this cow would provide poor meat. In the same way, scientists must also exercise in vitro meat to keep it growing. This exercise will also make it feel and taste like real meat. So, scientists exercise the meat in two ways - by stretching it and shocking it with electricity. Voice 1 Right now, the meat that scientists have made is very small.
It is only a few centimeters long and one centimeter wide. It is also not the same color as animal meat. Instead, it is grey. This is because in vitro meat does not need blood to grow. And blood is what gives meat its color. But scientists hope to make in vitro meat look more like real meat in the future. Voice 2
The way in vitro meat looks is not its only problem.
Right now, it takes a long time for the meat to grow. And scientists do not know how to make a large amount. It also costs a lot of money to make in vitro meat. Making enough for one meal would cost $250,000. However, as scientists continue to produce more in vitro meat, they hope cost will go down. They also hope that someday people will be able to buy it in their local market. Voice 1 Producing in vitro meat has many problems.
However scientists continue to work because in vitro meat would have many advantages. Michael Specter is a writer for The New Yorker magazine. He told National Public Radio: Voice 3 “We have 7,000,000,000 people on the planet...Those people need food.
They need the healthy substance protein - and they will eat better as they get wealthier. And better, sadly, means more like Americans - a lot of meat. And a lot of meat means a lot of water, a lot of grain, a lot of grass. And we do not have that much room for any of it.” Voice 2
Producing more and more animal meat will negatively affect the environment.
Today, much of the world's meat is produced on large “factory farms.” These farms raise many, many cows for meat. The cows need a lot of land. Often, there are thousands of cows in a small area of land. It is not a good life for the cows either. They do not get to go into the fields and do not have room to walk around very much. These cows also eat a lot of grain. And it takes a lot of land to grow the grain. Many people believe the earth cannot support such a demand on land. In vitro meat can help lower the demand on the earth's resources. Voice 1 The process of raising animals for meat also produces a lot of gases that are damaging to the environment.
In some parts of the world, animal meat travels a long way from the farm to the dinner table. In fact, the transportation process begins even before the animal farm. Voice 2
First, a grain farmer has to harvest and transport grain from his fields.
Then, an animal farmer transports the grain to his farm to feed the animals and keep them healthy. Next, a truck driver transports the animals to a slaughter house - where the animals are killed. And finally, another truck driver transports the cut meat to the market where people can buy it. Trucks release the harmful gas, carbon dioxide, during every step of this long process. And this creates a lot of problems for the environment. Voice 1 However, animals produce a lot of harmful gas themselves.
In fact, cows produce a lot of methane - a gas that is even more harmful to the environment than carbon dioxide. Nick Collins is a science writer for the Telegraph newspaper. He says: Voice 4 “Moving the production of meat from farms to laboratories would also help reduce the huge amount of damaging gases released by farm animals.
At the same time, laboratories would use 99% less land than farms.” Voice 2
In vitro meat could solve many of the problems of animal meat.
But can humans eat this in vitro meat? Scientists do not know if it even tastes like real meat. Because of food research laws, they are not yet able to taste their meat. But they have hope. They argue that it is real meat and it is just made in a different way. Voice 1 A lot of people are still worried about in vitro meat.
However, it will be years before the meat is ready to sell. Kate Shepard is a writer for Mother Jones magazine. She says, Voice 5 “It will require hard testing before it can be fed to humans.
It is still such a new idea that we do not know yet what health concerns it may have. Right now, there are no rules for in vitro meat.” Voice 2
What do you think about in vitro meat?
Would you eat this meat? Do you think it is a good idea? You can e-mail us your thoughts atradio@radioenglish.net. Voice 1 The writer of this program was Dianna Anderson.
The producer was Robin Basselin. The voices you heard were from the United States and the United Kingdom. All quotes were adapted and voiced by Spotlight. You can find our programs on the internet athttp://www.radioenglish.net. This program is called “Laboratory Meat”. Voice 2
We hope you can join us again for the next Spotlight program.
Goodbye.
