In budding battle over lab-grown meat, Florida takes opening stab

Cultured meat, meet culture war. The first rhetorical shots have just been fired in a political battle that could last years.

The catalyst: lab-grown meat.

Florida this month became the first U.S. state to ban meat created from cell cultures. Alabama is following suit. Other states are enacting softer restrictions. Even in Canada, early whispers of the discussion are stirring.

It's no surprise that a politician renowned for flinging himself into the forefront of the most polarizing debates wound up taking the opening stab at lab meat.

Gov. Ron DeSantis last week signed a bill that sets a $500 US fine, corporate penalties and potentially even 60 days in jail for making, selling or distributing lab meat in his state.

DeSantis insisted lab meat isn't some benign product about which consumers can make their own choice.

Instead, the Republican governor cast it as an early step in a sinister plot by global elites to eventually ban livestock farming entirely, and supplant it with manufactured meat and the eating of insects.

"I recognize the threats," DeSantis said. "Take your fake, lab-grown meat elsewhere. We're not doing that in the state of Florida."

There are, of course, commercial interests at play. DeSantis celebrated the signing in the company of cattle industry representatives, a sector that donates primarily to Republicans.

But this reflects a broader political divide — a rural-urban split that's come to dominate American politics; a contest, if you will, between lab coats and cowboy hats.

Given that their voter pool is twice as rural, it's hardly shocking that Republicans are riding pre-emptively to the defence of the cowboys.

More than 12 Republican-led states have passed laws that require special labels, with some entirely forbidding use of the word "meat."

Here's what makes this a pre-emptive strike: the cultured-meat industry barely exists. Lab-grown chicken was first approved for sale in the U.S. last year. 

With the exception of brief marketing experiments in a couple of restaurants, it's still not commercially available.