Ban on lab-grown meat a big mistake | Letters to the editor
If Florida truly is "the free state," readers wonder, why did DeSantis just ban lab-grown meat?
The sociopathy of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ leadership of Florida keeps multiplying with a new state law making it illegal to grow or sell meat alternatives in laboratories, thus forcing Floridians to only eat meat obtained from animals.
Animal agriculture is a major contributor to the global warming causing the sea level rises since 2010 that are inundating Florida’s coastal cities. But instead of supporting efforts to reduce the existential threat that global warming poses to Florida, DeSantis is fueling this impending disaster.
The damage doesn’t stop there. This ban could eliminate Cape Canaveral as a future launch site for SpaceX because they are developing lab-based meat production for space travel.
Then again, if Cape Canaveral slips underwater, the lab-grown meat problem will be moot, anyway.
Floridians can oppose DeSantis’ efforts to destroy Florida by resolving to decrease their consumption of meat obtained from animals. As an added benefit, they will benefit from eating a healthier diet, too.
Robert C. Speth, Ph.D., FAAAS, FAHA, Davie
Don’t buy it, then
On May 1, Gov. DeSantis signed a ban on lab-grown meat.
The justification is “to stop the World Economic Forum goal of forcing the world to eat lab-grown meat and insects.”
Under the guise of protecting us from the elite, DeSantis is selling out our freedom to commercial ranching interests. In this, the free state of Florida, I should have the right to buy lab-grown meat, if I so choose.
If you think it’s yucky, then don’t buy it. That’s what real freedom looks like.
But as technology improves, lab-grown meat may taste just as good and eventually become our cheapest source of meat.
When that time comes, that’s real money that DeSantis is taking away from consumers and handing over to commercial interests. The free state of Florida should be no place for a ban on consumer choice. To the governor and the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Jay Collins, Republican of Tampa, I say: Shame, shame.
Esteban Pimentel, Weston
Deciding what we eat
We can’t learn Black history like we used to in Florida. We can’t “say gay,” we can’t read the books we choose. There’s a list a mile long of the things Floridians can’t do.
But this latest one is the wackiest. Now Gov. Ron DeSantis and his puppets in the legislature have decided they are going to tell us what we can’t eat. As crazy as it seems, they have passed a law that says we can’t have lab-grown meat.
For anyone who has tried it, lab grown meat is tasty, extremely healthy and better for the environment. In the future, it will dominate the market.
But here in the so-called “Freedom State” of Florida, our government says we can’t talk, we can’t read, we can’t protest, and now we can’t eat — without their permission.
Martin Kleinbart, Aventura
To reduce car drownings
Several hundred people drown in their cars each year from what are known as vehicle submersion accidents. Many of these tragedies occur in Florida.
A recent article in the Wall Street Journal called attention to this problem, and now there may be a solution. Boston Whaler sells unsinkable boats due to their judicious use of foam flotation. Perhaps the auto industry should examine the feasibility of foam flotation, either to prevent vehicles from sinking or to delay sinking, to give occupants a fighting chance to get out alive.
Since this is such a serious problem in Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis should consider seeking research in this area.
James Cohen, M.D., Fort Lauderdale