Laboratory Burger

 
 
 

Vocabulary

veil (2)	petri dish	stem cell
cattle	advanced	tissue (2)
aim (2)	unveil	long way
produce	let’s say	gearing up
stuff	estimate	golf-ball size
premium	consumption	environmentally friendly
salmon	headlines	genetically engineered
snag	hit a snag	Food and Drug Administration
taste	hard sell	fifth generation
face (2)	traditional	old fashioned

 
 
 
 
 
 

Video

 

 
 
 
 

It’s a long way to go from a hamburger like this . . . to one looking like this.

This is actually beef being created in a petri dish.

A Dutch scientist is using stem cells from cattle muscle tissue to create a burger in a lab.

And he told a conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, he aims to unveil the first one by October.

Mark Post, Professor of Biomedicine: “It’s still very small pieces, and too small to actually cook it right now. So we are now gearing up to produce let’s say a golf ball size of this stuff and then — cook it.”

Post estimates that that burger will cost $330,000 to make.

Behind it all is a search for more environmentally friendly way to produce meat as the world’s population grows.

With land at a premium for animals needed, one scientist at the conference says that global meat consumption could rise 60% in the next forty years.

This isn’t the first lab food to make headlines.

Here in the US an effort to produce genetically engineered salmon has hit snags, as the food and drug administration considers its safety.

Even it looks the same, tastes the same, and is just as safe, would people really eat beef made in a lab? It’s a hard sell for some at New York’s Katz’s Deli.

Fifth generation owner Jake Dell, brings in thousands of pounds every week.

Jake Dell, Katz’s Deli Owner: “Call me traditional, call me old fashion, I think meat should come from a cow.”

Customer One: “It might not not be a bad idea.”
Reporter: “Why?”
Customer One: “Well, because it might help save the earth. That’s one way, you know.”

Customer Two: “I could not see my meat coming from a petri dish. I need to know that it had a face.”

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Questions

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1. What has a scientist in the Netherlands done?

2. At the moment, are the meat pieces enough for a meal or is it too little?

3. The petri-dish hamburger costs $3.30. True or false?

4. Did the scientists harm a cow to create the meat?

5. If the scientists are successful in creating laboratory-grown meat, would this be good, bad, both, in-between or neigther? Why?

6. A new type of salmon was created in the same manner. Is this right or wrong?

7. The people in the deli are unanimous in their opinions. They are all enthusiastic about lab meat. True or false?
 
 
A. Is lab-grown meat a good idea? What are the possible advantages and disadvantages?

B. Would some or many people oppose lab-grown meat? Why would some people oppose it?

C. Would you eat or buy lab-grown meat?

D. This food will become normal in the future. What do you think?

E. What should governments and people do?