Nothing as It Seems

A version of this article was printed in The Irish Vegetarian , Issue 137, Winter 2013 Perhaps it’s fair to say that the concept of lab-grown meat was originally conceptualised by Winston Churchill, when he declared in a 1932 essay " Fifty Years Hence " that by 1982 “we shall escape the absurdity of growing a whole chicken in order to eat the breast or wing, by growing these parts separately under a suitable medium.” Eighty years on and the idea hasn’t gone away. About five years ago the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) gave scientists until 30th June 2012 to confirm they could create "cultured" meat -- also known as in vitro or lab-grown meat -- in commercial quantities.  They launched a prize winning competition , awarding $1 million to the first scientific team that could prove that artificial chicken can be grown in large quantity, which would be impossible to differentiate from actual chicken flesh. This, you might suppose, sound...

May 2012 A version of this article was printed in  The Irish Vegetarian , Issue 138, Spring 2013 Following the recent visit of the People’s Republic of China Vice President, Xi Jinping, to Ireland in February, along with a return trip to China by An Taoiseach Enda Kenny and a number of Ministers the following month, there was a general sense of confidence from TDs and comments in the national press.    Mr Xi, who is tipped to be the next Chinese leader, and a 150-member delegation together with five Chinese government ministers, discussed trade and investment opportunities with Mr Kenny during his stay.  An agreement to develop trade and investment between the two nations was signed at a forum hosted by Enterprise Ireland. This deal aims to promote trade, especially in the a rea of education, agriculture, and food. In the Sunday Business Post (19 February), Simon Coveney, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, said “a political and comme...