[Avodah] Synthetic Meat - Responding to Questoins

[Zev Sero]

On 5/08/2013 8:54 PM, Nachum Binyamin Klafter, MD wrote:
>
> One person privately asked me if it might be comparable to rennet, which is a concentrated solution of enzymes derived from the stomach of a cow.  It is not comparable to rennet, because Rennet is the actual substance which comes from the guf of the cow, and which actually curdles the milk.  In the case of synthetic meat there is actually ZERO substance from any animal.  It’s like a plant whose roots are growing in an artificial medium, which is now growing muscle tissue.  It’s not an animal and has never been connected to an animal.

Perhaps a better comparison is to the law that gidulei terumah are assur,
but gidulei gidulim are mutar, because there is nothing of the original
terumah's substance in the second generation, let alone in subsequent ones.
In our case, by the time it gets to market it will surely be many generations
removed from the original animals.

-- 
Zev Sero               A citizen may not be required to offer a 'good and
zev at sero.name          substantial reason' why he should be permitted to
                        exercise his rights. The right's existence is all
                        the reason he needs.
                            - Judge Benson E. Legg, Woollard v. Sheridan