In April 2008, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) announced that it would offer $1 million to anyone who could create test tube meat by 2012. Through test tube meat, PETA is hoping to reduce the number of animals raised and killed for meat to help the environment by decreasing deforestation. Although the organization’s intentions are good, test tube meat is simply not a feasible option for the future.

Firstly, the idea of test tube meat is downright disturbing. Test tube meat, or in vitro meat, is meat that is engineered by scientists and grown in vats. When people start experimenting with something natural like food, who knows what will happen? This “great” idea reeks of Soylent Green.

In addition, scientific research is expensive. Equipment, scientists, time—all of these factors will lead to a huge amount of money for this project. According to an ABC News article, scientists are currently able to produce small portions of meat. However, to be able to produce the amount of meat that is suggested by PETA, it will take much longer than the original deadline. And even when large quantities of test-tube meat are available to the public, it will be very expensive—more than the average American family will want to pay or be able to afford.

Advocates of test tube meat claim that scientists will be able to get rid of the “bad stuff” in real meat like animal fat and improve the nutrition content. However, we will no longer be ingesting natural nutrients and vitamins. With that in mind, we have no idea what kind of impact this will have on our bodies, and we should not risk people’s lives by ingesting hazardous chemicals.

Currently, the amount of land limits the amount of food we can produce. By introducing test tube meat, we reduce the need for grazing and farm land for animals. Although this sounds like a solution to deforestation, the creation of test tube meat will raise our planet’s carrying capacity, and thus have a negative impact on our population and environment in the long term. More people will be fed, which will lead to an increase in population. At one time or another, our population will surpass this capacity and humankind will suffer—whether it be through starvation or disease.

Even if production of test tube meat is achieved on a large scale, and reasonably priced, there will still be many people who will not give it a chance. Take a look at our country on a different issue—scientists and environmentalists have repeatedly spoken about and warned us about global warming. We have taken a few steps in the right direction to slow down the rate of carbon emissions, but many of us will not give up our cars and electrical equipment for the environment to recover. The same goes for real meat. As sad as it is, our comfort is more of a priority to us than the lives of animals. Also, how many people will be comfortable knowing the meat on their plates comes from vats? The idea of test tube meat will definitely not be attractive for the squeamish.

Instead of advocating for “ethical” meat, we should focus more on improving how meat is processed and packaged rather than spending billions to create a whole new type of food that could result in even more controversial debates in the future. Test tube meat will only add to the list of ongoing global problems and is clearly not the right solution.