OPINION: President Biden Should Advance Cellular Agriculture (Lab Grown Meat) In Final Days Of Presidency

Biden should advance cellular agriculture in final days

Editor’s note: When considering the precarious nature of America’s food supply, as detailed in this article about Covid era grocery prices, it becomes clear that something needs to be done to improve agricultural practices.  Some technologies, such as the weed zapping machines recently invented, can be very helpful in reducing the strain on ecosystems.  We have covered this author’s opinion before, where he details the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions through the use of this new technology. 

If President Joe Biden was as serious about protecting American democracy as his prior rhetoric would suggest, President-Elect Donald Trump would be in prison now for an assortment of crimes, which include orchestrating a mob attack on our nation’s capitol. Sadly, that’s not the case and the aging centrist seems to be treating this as a normal presidential transition.

At the bare minimum, Biden should be doing what he can in his remaining days in office to defend and advance the meager gains his administration has made. As an animal activist, I’d hope this would include defending and advancing the gains made in the field of cellular agriculture. For those who don’t know, cultivated meat is grown from livestock cells, without slaughter.

In addition to preventing the needless suffering and premature death of countless creatures, the new protein has the potential to dramatically reduce our greenhouse-gas emissions and pandemic risk. Many people aren’t aware that animal agriculture is one of the leading causes of climate change and the spread of zoonotic viruses. We can create a better food system.

It was under the Biden administration that the Department of Agriculture awarded $10 million to Tufts University, in order to establish the National Institute for Cellular Agriculture. Besides leading research in the field, the Massachusetts-based institute was meant to educate the next generation of professionals in the cultivated-meat space.

Similarly, it was the Biden administration that ordered the creation of a report about how to use biotechnology and biomanufacturing for alternative proteins. During a background press call, a senior official explained, “We’re also looking to improve food security and drive agricultural innovation, including through…foods made with cultured animal cells.”

Finally, it was the USDA, again under the Biden administration, that first approved the sale of cultivated chicken in the country. While this has been a largely symbolic decision so far, as companies in the field are not yet ready to mass produce their product, it was nonetheless historic. Only Singapore had previously approved cultivated meat for market.

The first Trump administration established a framework for its regulation, but all available evidence suggests the second will be hostile to the protein. For instance, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., nominated to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, is a harsh critic of cultivated meat, as is Vice President Elect J.D. Vance. Donald Trump Jr. said it should be banned.

In a recent article for Heatmap News, Michael Grunwald reported a source close to Kennedy told him it was unlikely the protein would be banned outright. Rather the potential cabinet secretary would leave industry players in permanent regularity limbo. For those unaware, the Food and Drug Administration, which helps oversee cultivated-meat products, is an HHS agency.

In his final days in power, Biden should do everything he can to put the cellular-agriculture field in a favorable position for the next four years or more. If there are products nearing regulatory approval, make sure they’re fast-tracked. If there is money that can be directed toward cultivated-meat research, do so. We must assume the worst about the Trump White House.

Perhaps the incoming administration can and will reverse such last-minute moves by Biden, but the Democrat should at the very least try. He owes it to his supporters to do this on all fronts. There is arguably no one more responsible for Trump’s return than Biden, who stubbornly refused to leave the presidential race when it should have been obvious he wasn’t up for the job.

Jon Hochschartner lives in Connecticut. He is the author of a number of books, including The Animals’ Freedom Fighter: A Biography of Ronnie Lee, Founder of the Animal Liberation Front. Visit his blog at SlaughterFreeAmerica.Substack.com.

Banner Image: Meat. Image Credit –  Alex Munsell 

Jon Hochschartner

Jon Hochschartner is the author of a number of books about animal-rights history, including The Animals’ Freedom Fighter, Ingrid Newkirk, and Puppy Killer, Leave Town. He blogs at SlaughterFreeAmerica.Substack.com