Wyoming And Montana Legislators Seek To Ban Lab-Grown Meat

Details about how meat for human consumption is grown in laboratories does not make for polite dinner conversation. Montana House Rep. Randyn Gregg, R-White Sulphur Springs, made that clear during a recentcommittee hearing when he offered this recipe for lab-grown meat.

“We're putting animal cell cultures in a stainless-steel vat where we put in a soup of amino acids and vitamins, minerals and extracted fetal bovine serum of our unborn calves,” Gregg told the Montana House Agriculture Committee, as he mixed in allusions to Hollywood science fiction during his testimony.

Gregg described lab-grown meat as, “Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein meets Keanu Reeves in the Matrix,” and then closed his testimony with a quote from Jeff Goldblum in “Jurassic Park”: “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.”

It appears a group of lawmakers in Montana and Wyoming believe their states should join Alabama and Florida in banning lab-grown meat.

Wyoming House Bill 168 “prohibiting the manufacture, sale and distribution of cultivated meat for human consumption,” passed out of the House and awaits a vote in the Wyoming Senate.

In Montana, House Bill 401 remains under consideration by the Montana House. During a Feb. 11 hearing, no one spoke out against the legislation.

“This bill would follow along with other states and countries who have banned lab grown meat due to the unknown health effects and to protect food traditions, farmers and ranchers, and ultimately, public health,” said Rep. Braxton Mitchell, R-Columbia Falls, sponsor of HB 401.”I think we have a unique opportunity here to put the hammer down clearly and show that we stand with agriculture and that we stand with our cattle ranchers.”

Legislation to block the sale of lab-made meat products comes at a time when family ranches are celebrating a court victory over allegations that the nation’s big four meat packers conspired against family ranchers to bring down cattle prices.

Turns out, those same big four meat packers are also pushing lab-grown meat.