Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

LETTER TO THE EDITOR:

Humane meat merits funding

I was disappointed to learn that the Department of Agriculture is giving out more than $223 million in grants and loans to expand the nation’s slaughter capacity.

Instead, it should invest in cultivated-meat research. Cultivated meat is grown from animal cells, without killing. This revolutionary protein is better for the environment, public health and nonhuman welfare.

Propping up traditional animal agriculture is a betrayal of the values President Joe Biden campaigned on. Cultivated meat requires a fraction of the greenhouse gas emissions that raising livestock does. Since animals are removed from the process, the threat of zoonotic diseases making the jump to humans is greatly reduced. And widespread adoption of cultivated meat would help usher in a more compassionate age for God’s creatures.