Some facts about growing artificial meat

How the world's costliest burger made it on to the plate (Report, 6 August) makes an interesting read and provides a good moment to bring attention to how artists progress thinking and do real innovation. For more than 10 years the work of Symbiotica in Western Australia has involved making art made of in-vitro meat (Disembodied Cuisine), recently hosting an art cookery show, ArtMeatFlesh, where the audience was served only grown-meat products.Victimless Leather was grown in collaboration with Dr John Hunt of Liverpool University and the Foundation for Art and Creative Technology in a custom made bio-reactor. The living structure was then presented as part of the SKinterfaces exhibition, part of Liverpool's Year of Culture 2008. This living artwork posits the question of what if we not only grow meat, but also leather, and sits within a subset of arts-science collaborations (sometimes termed bio-arts). Key proponents include Gina Czarnecki and John O'Shea, both of whom have collaborated with Dr John Hunt, and Stelarc.Unquestionably, Sergey Brin's investment in this area of research and the related PR is great for raising public awareness of these significant ethical issues, but let's acknowledge other earlier pioneers working without commercial incentive and recognise that art actually is innovation.Mike StubbsDirector, Fact, Liverpool• Synthetic meat and possibly other foods could have huge benefits, although there are simpler improvements to supplies – for example, thos...

Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - August 7, 2013 Category: Science Tags: Meat The Guardian Tissue engineering Media Sergey Brin Letters Food science Source Type: news