I have a question for people who are vegetarians primarily because they object to killing sentient animals.?

Question

This isn't for people who choose the lifestyle for health reasons, or who just dislike the taste of meat, but only people who just hate the killing of sentient animals.

Let's say that 20 years in the future scientists find a way to grow a cow without its head in some sort of pod. Using cloning and genetic engineering they have found a way to make the most delicious sides of beef by only growing the meaty sections of the cow, and not the head. The method has been perfected so that it's completely safe to eat, and since the cow never has a head it isn't sentient and can therefore not feel any pain.

Would you still be against eating meat, or would this change your lifestyle?

Answer 1

It probably wouldn't eat it myself but I would definitely promote it as a better alternative to beef as long as it wasn't a gross waste of resources.

Answer 2

"What if" and "Let's say" questions like this do not make real sense because the premise is so improbable.

For one,what makes you think a headless lab experiment is palatable to anyone meat eaters included? I am a meat eater but I won't even touch such a thing much less eat it. Would you?

Since science at this stage of your hypothesis is so advanced as to be able to produce such a thing, wouldn't it be also logical to conclude that the same advanced technology  would be able to manufacture a vegetable based product that actually approximates the true taste of meat? (today's mock meats are not even close). Wouldn't that be a better alternative not only for vegetarians/vegans but for all instead of some headless piece of flesh?  Why spend so much effort on producing a frankenstein's monster  when there is an already existing alternative, plants, from where to start.

We don't live on a dead planet. Wer can grow or raise things here. We don't need to produce food on petri dishes and test tubes. If vegans or vegetarians don't want to eat meat, FOR WHATEVER REASON, why spend all the energy and resources simply to  convince them that they could? Why can't they be left alone? I don't tell vegetariasn that they should eat meat. I expect them to extend to me the same respect and consideration.  Why is there a need to disporve each other beliefs? What is the point?

Answer 3

Well, if it was never alive to begin with I guess I would.

Answer 4

I am an affirmed meat eater but if that was the only 'meat' available I would probably become a vegetarian.

Answer 5

I would still be firm in my decision not to consume dead animals. Also, I am against genetically modified food and cloning. I think it's despicable. Just because we can, doesn't mean we should.

Answer 6

I would stick with vegetarianism, rather than eat a genetically engineered monster.

Answer 7

well, if it's never been alive then maybe, but i'm still not sure....um i guess i probably would.

Answer 8

that's an interesting idea, and I guess I would eat it.

Answer 9

They are already creating meat in a lab that will eliminate animal suffering through slaughter if successful. If it's tastes good and is safe I will try it.

Answer 10

*gags*

I do not support genetic recombination through means of space age technology.

If I was ever going to eat meat, it would be from a wild animal that was born and lived free. That will NEVER happen so I'm quite sure that I will never touch the flesh of some headless freak.

Answer 11

Personally I think that sounds so gross. I would rather eat veggie than eat something so far from its original form.

Could to same not be said for people? Canabolism is wrong but what if we made it so that the person you were eating was never alive and felt no pain, and, afterall, it tastes soooo good. Would it still be wrong? I'm thinking yes. LOL. There is no difference really for me.

Answer 12

no way. first of all, i am against cloning, and second of all, i still wouldn't think it's right to eat animals.

Answer 13

I would still be against eating meat. That's just disgusting and I do not condone cloning, so the only way that would change my lifestyle is by completely horrifying/disgusting me.

Answer 14

that is wrong on so many levels.

I would deffinately still be against it, especially since it would have to be a replica of a once living breathing being that had to go through testing just so there could be a non-living replica and still a source of food.

but then again I'm vegan.

Answer 15

i would be EXTREMELY disappointed in the scientific community if they made a ridiculous "project" like that a reality.  heaven forbid we cure aids, cancer, or even diabetes, but by golly we are going to find a way to convince vegans and vegetarians that they're wrong!!  sorry, but i think the scientific world has bigger fish to fry. (no pun intended)

also, you're assuming that meat eaters would accept this proposition with open arms and that vegetarians and vegans would be the ones to object.  that is just ridiculous.  i used to be a meat eater (for the first 2/3 of my life anyway) and even when i ate meat i would NEVER have eaten meat created in a lab.  that doesn't sound appetizing to me whether it can think and feel or not.  they would also have enourmous backlash from the conservative/religious community for creating a living being in a lab......plus, imagine how many animals would have died in the process of creating your "headless cow".....that takes research, not just somebody with a computer and a notepad.

i don't imagine that many veg*ns would support this, but some might......opinions will vary.  i, however, would not even give it a second thought....there is no way that meat would enter my mouth.

Answer 16

PETA thinks that's OK.  

They are giving a million dollars to anyone that can make comertial petri dish meat.  For some reason they don't object to scientists raising animals for stem cells to start the petri dish meat, it would be at least as cruel as the medical testing they object to.

Answer 17

if it tastes good, eat it.  

As far as health,  heck, nothing is healthy.  You can do all you want and in the end it doesn't matter.  

Don't smoke, don't drink, don't eat meat, eat only organic, and boom ........you still get cancer and die.   Or you die by car accident, wishing , d**n i was worried about saturated fat, wish i had eaten that T-Bone yesterday,  and all the animals are sitting around, mourning and crying about the death of a human? I dont think so.  If anything they're happy i won't be the one to eat them next.

So if its tasty and makes you happy, eat it.

Answer 18

20 years from now?

People who are contented with nonhuman animal's flesh often EXCLUDE "human animal"s flesh in this context. Indeed human meat is the most delicious & a perfect"one-stop shopping" for complete nutrition content in it. If i say we should raise human meat for sale, would u volunteer? Think rationally.

Answer 19

The thought of eating genetically engineered meat makes me nauseous. I also don't think it would be healthy. There would be no way to know the ramifications for sure. Plus, I don't really trust the FDA to begin with. So for me, if it can't grow on it's own in nature, I don't want it in my body.

Answer 20

Different versions of this question have already come up in this forum several times. Vegetarians always say they won't eat it.

Cows have to be killed to create the technology, If you are eating it, you are still supporting the killing of animals.

I'm vegetarian and I don't like it when scientists decide what's good for me without respecting my personal beliefs.

Answer 21

Of course everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but I personally would choose not to eat the scientifically engineered meat.  My reasoning behind being a vegetarian is the belief that animals have souls (as do humans) and that they have the right to live lives without suffering at our hands.  This said, I'd also be most likely to eat an animal who had lived a life in the woods and that was killed quickly.  Though your idea sounds good to some in theory, it really does go against my whole idea of an animal as LIVING (this is obvious, I know).  Yes the animal could not feel any pain, but I don't believe that cows are alive for the purpose of being eaten (hence the vegetarianism to begin with), so I can't agree with taking something that is suppose to be alive and making it used solely for the purpose of food, even if this means that it does not suffer.

Answer 22

I agree.