GOP freaking out about industry that does not exist yet

The only way you’re allowed to eat a burger is if a live animal first had to burp and die for it. That, apparently, is the battle cry of redstate Republicans, who are working to ban the fledgling “lab-grown meat” industry.

Scientists and entrepreneurs are developing new technologies to create meat from animal tissue cultivated in labs. This is different from Beyond Meat, tofu or any other meat substitute made from vegetarian ingredients. These are cells harvested from actual animals and then grown into edible flesh with the help of nutrients such as amino acids. The idea is to replicate the texture, taste and nutritional content of the delicious meats consumers already know and love.

Last year, the Agriculture Department approved some companies to sell lab-grown chicken; other lab-cultured meats (such as beef, pork and tuna) are still being developed. Even the cultivated chicken is available only in very small quantities, at two U.S. restaurants. And it’s still unclear how well these new technologies will scale up.

But its prospects offer huge potential benefits.

Animal welfare activists have advocated more humane treatment of animals for generations. And traditionally produced meat is responsible for huge quantities of greenhouse gas emissions each year, a consequence of feed production, manure management and, yes, lots of cow belching. Livestock agrifood systems account for 12% of all anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions worldwide, the United Nations estimates.

Then there are people like, well, me. I usually don’t think much about where my food comes from or what its greenhouse gas footprint is. If I were a better person, maybe I would. Maybe my habits would change. But this is likely true for most consumers: We buy our food primarily based on crass criteria such as price and taste rather than abstract principles such as “saving the Earth.”

That’s exactly what makes this nascent industry so exciting. Perhaps humanity doesn’t have to rely on moral suasion to save the planet and protect helpless critters. Financial incentives alone could do it. This novel technology might eventually create meats that appeal to amoral businesses and lazy consumers — potentially at lower cost, no loss of life, reduced climate harm, less use of antibiotics and maybe even greater nutritional value.

And the result might not taste offal either. (Sorry.)

Again: We’re not there yet. Serious financial and technological challenges remain before these products can become commercially viable and environmentally beneficial. But we should all be rooting for them to succeed. Alas, not everyone is. A handful of red states are trying to mince these meats’ prospects.

Republican politicians in Alabama, Arizona, Tennessee and Florida are considering legislation that would ban the sale, distribution or import of any “cell-cultured food product” intended for human consumption. Depending on the state, penalties could include everything from a $1 million fine to prison time.

To be clear, this is not about a left-wing nanny state forcing the sale or consumption of lab-grown meats. It’s about a conservative nanny state prohibiting the voluntary consumption and sale of these products (which again, mostly don’t yet exist).

What happened to the Republicans who wanted the free market to choose winners and losers? Where is the party of limited government?

Dissertations could be written on that subject, but the proposed cultivated-meat bans illustrate at least two key forces behind the GOP’S antimarket evolution: culture wars and crony capitalism.

These bans are partly about, well, throwing red meat to the base. Witness the allusions to “Bill Gates” (who features prominently in right-wing conspiracy theories) and an allegedly shady, anti-american “ideological agenda.” Some politicians’ brains have been so warped by desires to “own the libs” that any adverse climate impacts of conventional meat production might be a feature, not a bug.

These politicians might also be responding to concerns from powerful interest groups that are threatened by competition from cultivated meat. Agricultural lobbyists have called for both outright bans or at least labels designed to stigmatize new meat products, in case you’re wondering how this legislative sausage got made. (Under pressure from farmers, Italy recently banned lab-grown meat, too.)

Someone will likely succeed at this promising new industry. Don’t let these anti-market thugs get in the way of American success. The steaks (ahem) are too high.