The cultured meat ban is inane

Sim Sitzer | Contributing Writer

Governor Ron DeSantis signed the nation’s first ban on cultured meat, outlawing its production and sale in Florida. If somehow you think this is intended to be in the best interest of the state, you’re forgetting DeSantis’ political style.

The governor’s main justification for the ban is that it will protect Florida’s cattle industry as the World Economic Forum and others recommend limiting traditional meat consumption.

DeSantis argues that since future politicians will be able to say that cultured meat is the same as regular meat, it could lead to them banning cattle farming in the name of climate change.

Even if that’s possible, it is still a ridiculous policy to just ban this nascent industry.

What is DeSantis going to ban next? Nuclear fission and fusion technologies because they might provide abundant low-emissions energy and threaten current Florida energy jobs?

If we can mass produce meat with all the nutritional components and the full flavor of regular meat, that’s just an all around noble achievement for humankind.

The benefits of lowering the greenhouse gas emissions involved in cattle farming as we face this climate crisis, and reducing the amount of water needed to produce protein as Florida’s freshwater stockpile thins out, are also substantial.

The sad irony is that climate change is damaging the Florida cattle industry he’s allegedly trying to protect.

A fully operating cultured meat industry could work synergistically with the traditional cattle farming industry in Florida but again, this is about DeSantis’ political agenda.

This policy displays an ugly side to DeSantis’ conservatism of opposition to free markets just to win a culture war.

This is an unserious law. This was mainly done so that DeSantis could use it as a talking point on a 2028 GOP presidential primary debate stage.

He just wants to say that Florida was first in the nation to ban lab-grown meat.

In today’s political environment, it’s easy to demonize external organizations like the World Economic Forum to rile up support. It takes leadership to refrain from this type of hyperpartisanship.

The governor should stop treating the World Economic Forum as an opposition party. After his failed presidential race, he needs to get his head back into the Florida groove of things.

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