CULTURE WARS

Did MAGA conspiracy theories doom the lab-grown burger?

- BY HENRY CARNELL

SCIENTISTS ONCE predicted meat-making machines on every kitchen counter, but so far cultured meat—grown from the cells of an animal in a lab or factory—has only been seen at a handful of high-end restaurants. There are entirely practical reasons the stuff has yet to make its debut at McDonald's, but also bizarre, conspiratorial ones; some states have already banned it for reasons that include “global elites” and “bugs.”

First imagined in 19th-century science fiction, cultured meat became a reality in the early 2000s when NASA grew fish tissue in a liquid serum. The first peer-reviewed paper on the topic, in 2005, predicted that cultured meat could address consumer concerns over “nutrition-related diseases, foodborne illnesses, resource use and pollution,” and the ethical implications of raising animals for meat.