The Coming Red
Revolution – II
A few years ago, NASA started on a program to develop
artificial meat which could be grown “in vitro” on the spaceship itself, with a
view to feed astronauts on long flights. A space-ship, as you would realize, has
extremely limited resources and needs to conserve and recycle these in order to
extend the possible flight time. Probably sometime during this exercise,
realization must have dawned that the same considerations apply to Spaceship
Earth. After all, essentially we are just a giant spaceship, totally on our own
with limited resources and with almost negligible probability of being able to
“import” any ingredients that we (may) require except energy from Sun.
This thinking has been widely accepted now and “sustainability”
has become a very important factor of consideration today. The issues which
were highlighted in Part-I, regarding livestock farming are receiving a great
deal of attention and among other remedies being discussed and probably
foremost among them is the production of artificial, laboratory-grown meat.
Almost a century ago, in 1932, Sir Winston Churchill had predicted
in an essay about future: “Fifty years hence we shall escape the absurdity of
growing a whole chicken in order to eat the breast or wing by growing these
parts separately under a suitable medium.” One can infer three things from this
statement. One, Sir Winston was an extremely prescient man; two, he was more
than a bit optimistic about the time-frame required to achieve such a feat, and
three he was not aware of such delicacies as tandoori chicken and tangdi kabab,
otherwise he would have surely added chicken legs to chicken wings and breasts
in the list of chicken parts to be cultivated.
But overall, his prediction was surely in the right direction.
Worldwide, a number of universities are trying to develop
technology for manufacturing artificial meat.
Europe, which must feel the pinch of land shortage more than other
developed countries, has taken a lead in this development. Prof. Mark Post of
Maastricht University of Netherlands is one of the leading researchers in this space.
On August 5, 2013, the world's first lab-grown burger was
cooked and eaten at a news conference in London. Prof. Mark Post’s team had
taken stem cells from a cow and grown them into strips of muscle
which they then combined to make a burger. The burger was cooked by chef
Richard McGeown of Couch's Great House Restaurant, Cornwall, and tasted by
critics and food researchers, who agreed that it does taste like meat though
with a slightly different mouthfeel. Overall verdict was “acceptable”.
Here's how the process works: scientists biopsy stem or
satellite muscle cells from a livestock animal, such as a chicken, cow or pig.
The cells are then placed in a nutrient-rich medium where they divide and
multiply, and are then attached to a scaffolding structure and put in a
bioreactor to grow. In order to achieve the texture of natural muscle, the
cells need to be physically stretched and flexed, or exercised, regularly. This
is done by passing small amounts of current of electricity which mimics
electrical signals in the nervous and motor systems of live animals. The end
result is a thin layer of muscle tissue that can be harvested and processed
into ground beef, chicken or pork, depending on the origin of the cells. The
best part is a single set of stem cells can produce hundreds of tones of
end-product, thus minimizing the pain to live animals.
Scientists have even coined a term for in-vitro meat, “shmeat”
which is derived from “sheet + meat” since the meat formed in-vitro is
harvested as thin strips or sheets of meat.
No doubt the technology is far from serving a juicy steak
made in-vitro as it requires creation of blood
vessels in the muscle mass and also mechanism for transport of
metabolized products etc to give that juicy mouth-feel that a steak has, but
scientists are already on their way to make various organs for transplant into
human body and incorporation of that technology for in-vitro meat should be
within our reach.
The advantages of “shmeat” over the “classic” meat grown on
farms are simply overwhelming. Detailed studies have been conducted to assess
the impact of vertical farming. Today
the figures could be treated as “guestimates”. Let’s look at these :
Land : It is claimed that every hectare utilized by
‘vertical farming” (a synonym for “shmeat” production) about 10 - 20 hectares
of agricultural land can be freed. Some studies have estimated the land saving
to the extent of 98%. Moreover the production need not be confined to land and
can be moved to sea. As per one estimate a bio-reactor of half the size of an
Olympic swimming pool can feed 20,000 people.
Energy : The vertical farming would cut down the energy
requirement for meat production by between 35% - 60%. The energy requirements
of bio-reactors can also be met through solar power. Only chicken farmed in a
conventional manner may have lower energy consumption than in-vitro meat.
Green House Gases : There would be a major reduction
in GHG generated and moreover it will be
feasible to collect methane generated in bio-reactors and use the same for energy
generation.
Water : The water consumption in bio-reactors can be
controlled and water recycled to a great degree, thus reducing the water
requirements to a fraction of conventional requirements and reducing the
groundwater contamination drastically.
Health : Livestock farming gives rise to certain
diseases like Mad Cow, Avian Flu, Salmonella, Trichomonas, E-Coli and other
flesh-borne diseases. All these diseases would cease to be relevant with
in-vitro production. Today almost 70% of the antibiotics produced are pumped
into livestock, apart from steroids and growth hormones. The pesticides too get
introduced in the human food-chain through animal meat. In-Vitro meat will be totally free of traces
of theses.
In fact, “shmeat” will give us an opportunity to enhance its
quality by addition of desirable ingredients such as omega-3 acids apart from
controlling the fat content and profile of fatty acids incorporated in it.
So it appears all the factors which we had identified as
“negatives” for livestock farming have been cleared as far as “shmeat” /
vertical farming is considered.
Now let’s take a look at other factors which make or break a
new technology,
1. Economics : As with any new path-breaking technology the
initial cost of production of in-vitro meat is very high but already the fresh
estimates claim it that a burger from in-vitro production will cost about $8
which is very encouraging. Researchers are estimating that shortly the cost
could come down to as little as $2-2.50 per kg at which point the economics would
have conclusively swung the in-vitro way. In Indian context goat meat at Rs 400
per kg may not have many takers if in-vitro meat is available at these prices.
. Regulatory Approvals : As of now “shmeat” has no clearance from
regulatory agencies. It is likely that there are a few hiccups in obtaining the
clearances but surely these can be overcome by sheer weight of facts and
mandatory testing of products like in the pharma industry. The in-vitro meat
can have a much more regulated quality and also meet stringent requirements as
far as pollutants are concerned.
3. Consumer Acceptance : This could be the single
most important factor as religious sentiments are intricately involved with
such a product. Whether the rabbi will consider “shmeat” as “kosher”, or
whether church will have any objections, whether maulawis will consider this
meat as “halal” or whether “shmeat” from cow’s stem cells will pass muster with
Hindu ideologues in India are questions
that need to be worked on. Luckily, there is a large body of population which
will not be bothered by these hypothetical considerations. It is these mass of
people which will determine the fate of this technological break-through.
One factor why the acceptance for “shmeat” is likely to be
easier is what I term as “moral cowardice” that most non-vegetarians (including
this writer) suffer from. We all know that the juicy steak or spicy chicken
curry that we are enjoying has come from a once living creature and one way or
the other, we are responsible for killing it, but we don’t want to accept that
and are always finding ways to justify our actions by comforting ourselves that
the slaughter was carried out “painlessly” or that the chicken was anyway
destined to be eaten by somebody and that somebody just happens to be you etc. “Shmeat”
will give us a perfect way out and allow
our palate full freedom to enjoy steaks and tandoori chicken without feeling
guilty. A few of my gourmet friends have often extolled superior qualities of
venison over goat or lamb meat but I have always refrained from consuming venison
as I consider deer as an endangered species. But I will gladly order an
in-vitro venison steak today if it were to be on the menu.
In lighter vein, we may discover that a T Rex tangri kabab
or a fried Pterodactyl wing is the most delicious dish in the world and one may
have to pre-book a take-away at least a couple of weeks in advance because
there was so much demand for the item.
Today mankind is looking at setting up bases on Moon and
Mars. Very clearly there is a need to be at least a two-world civilization to
guard against “homegrown” threat of nuclear catastrophe or an external threat
like an asteroid strike either of which could obliterate life on the earth
before mankind has a chance of taking any steps to survive this 6th
extinction. A technology like vertical farming will essentially boost
feasibility of maintaining such bases in worlds which may not support
conventional agriculture and food grown in laboratories will be the only source
of sustenance for early colonists. Therefore, in-vitro meat production and
other technologies which can support life in space voyages or on
extra-terrestrial colonies need to be perfected at the earliest. This is one
Red Revolution that everyone must welcome and support.
LazyBee aka Shirish Potnis
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