Our Planet Climate and Geopolitics
Lab-grown meat is not expected to be widely available for years – the technology of cultivating meat from animal cells is young and expensive. But Florida’s governor Ron DeSantis went ahead and signed a bill last week that bans the sale of lab-grown meat in the state. It’s partly about protecting local farmers and ranchers. But it’s also about Florida “fighting back against the global elite’s plan to force the world to eat meat grown in a petri dish or bugs to achieve their authoritarian goals,” DeSantis said in a press release, referencing an article from the World Economic Forum. Several other US states are considering similar measures. Possible opponents include Elon Musk (a SpaceX flight to the ISS that launched from Florida includes lab-grown meat experiments) and reported new Florida residents Jeff Bezos and his fiancée Lauren Sanchez, who recently announced a $60 million investment into “sustainable protein”.