Letter To The Editor,
By Jon Hochschartner
Our treatment of animals is a national embarrassment. In particular, factory farms are hellish places, where creatures without room to turn around cannibalize each other in their own excrement. The richest, most powerful country in the world can do better.
Legislators should support federal funding for cultivated-meat research. This new protein is grown from cells, without slaughter. It will spare countless nonhumans from unimaginable suffering, especially on factory farms.
Absent unnecessary delays in the regulatory process, cultivated meat should be hitting American markets in the near future. However, significant hurdles will remain, such as reaching price parity with slaughtered meat. Public investment in research can address this.