I was overjoyed to learn President Joe Biden’s National Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Initiative will include funding for cultivated-meat research.
For those who don’t know, cultivated meat is grown from animal cells, without slaughter. Among other things, it’s better for the environment, public health, and animal welfare than slaughtered meat.
“We’re also looking to improve food security and drive agricultural innovation, including through new technologies that protect crops from disease, enhance seeds and fertilizers and foods made with cultured animal cells,” a senior administration official said in a press briefing announcing the initiative.
Increased funding for cultivated-meat research is needed to reduce the production costs of this new protein, so it can better compete with slaughtered meat. Leaders across the political spectrum should support this effort in order to reduce our greenhouse-gas emissions, pandemic risk, and the suffering we inflict on animals in the food system.
