At a time when technological innovation is challenging traditional norms across every sector, the food industry has become another prominent political battlefield, especially when it comes to pushing certain narratives about climate change.
This issue has manifested in a debate over a proposed ban on lab-grown meat in the state of Florida. Republican state lawmakers, along with Gov. Ron DeSantis, have argued that the sale of lab-grown meat should not be allowed.
State Rep. Tyler Sirois has proposed legislation that would make it a criminal offense to sell ”cultivated” meat in Florida, claiming that it’s an “affront to nature and creation” and the latest front in the “ESG agenda” — referring to environmental, social and corporate governance, which has been target of Gov. Ron DeSantis and Republican state leaders.
“Farming and cattle are incredibly important industries to Florida,” Sirois said in an interview on Wednesday. “So I think this is a very relevant discussion for our state to have.”
Sirois, a developer who said he doesn’t have ties to agriculture, said he hopes Florida will become the first state to ban cultured meat.
He also has a powerful ally supporting him: Wilton Simpson, the state’s agriculture commissioner and former Senate president, who is “100%” behind the effort.
During a speech earlier this month, DeSantis accused those promoting cultivated meat of advancing a political agenda.
While speaking in Hardee County last week, DeSantis slammed the scientific innovation as part of his crusade against “ESG” (environmental, social and governance), a business philosophy that encourages investors to throw their money behind companies with consideration to their handling of environmental and social issues.
DeSantis said ESG proponents are “trying to impose an agenda on society through the economy.”
“They really want to go after agriculture…,” DeSantis said. “They want to blame agriculture for global warming.”
The governor insisted, "We’re not going to do that fake meat.”
Cultivated meat is a "meat product" created by culturing animal cells in a controlled environment. The process involves using a small sample of animal cells and growing them in a bioreactor, where they grow and multiply to form muscle tissue. It is supposed to be identical at the cellular level to the type of meat we eat currently.
The objective of this innovation is to provide a sustainable alternative to traditional agriculture. Proponents argue that raising cattle, pork, poultry, and fish can have a deleterious effect on the environment. Lab-grown meat is a way to reduce the carbon footprint while still providing meat products.
The bill would impose licensing and criminal penalties on those who sell cultivated meat. These include misdemeanor charges and the possible suspension of business licenses. Those caught violating the proposed legislation could also face fines, probation, and possibly jail time.
I’m not a fan of the idea of lab-grown meat. I’ll try anything once, but something tells me I’d prefer biting into a rare steak, knowing that it came from a cow that was alive at some point.
However, I’m also not a fan of government interference when it comes to substances people knowingly and willingly consume. In this case, this proposed legislation would be yet another nanny state policy intended to use government force to stop people from selling or willingly consuming a substance. It is the type of legislation statist-minded politicians pass for our own good to protect us from ourselves.
The bottom line is that if someone wishes to eat cultivated meat, the government has no business using the threat of state action to stop them.
Yes, we should be concerned about the prevalence of ESG in corporate America and elsewhere. However, criminalizing lab-grown meat is not going to stop ESG and will only turn more people into lawbreakers. Using authoritarianism to fight authoritarianism only produces more authoritarianism and less liberty.
