The proposed prohibition on lab-grown beef in a massive Florida bill is drawing criticism from opponents who worry about fewer options for consumers, a weaker US economy, and a rise in Chinese employment.
Legislation HB 1071, introduced by Republican Representative Danny Alvarez, seeks to outlaw the production and distribution of meat that has been raised, charging those who do so with a second-degree misdemeanor.
“What we are doing is putting the safety of Floridians first,” Alvarez declared on Monday. “The Federal Government says it’s totally safe, but we’re saying—is it?”
In June of last year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture authorized meat that was created in a lab. A few animal cells are taken and grown in a regulated environment to generate the meat.
Then, using standard food processing and packaging techniques, the cellular material can be extracted and processed.
Small company owners and Democrats opposed the law, arguing that it would hinder innovation and that China would “lose” the new “protein arms race.”
“We import 70-85 percent of our seafood. Far from protecting American jobs, banning cultivated seafood in the United States will deepen our country’s dependence on countries like China,” According to Justin Kolbeck, the creator of the cultured seafood company Wildtype.
“This ban will create Chinese jobs at the expense of small businesses like mine. This ban will also stifle innovation in Florida as investment dollars are redirected toward more business-friendly states…Florida is sending a clear message to innovators around the world that it is closed for business,” He added.
At a hearing in February, Bill Helmich, a lobbyist for The Good Food Institute and Food Solutions Action, concurred.
“We’re running into another wall right now, and that is a protein wall. We’re running out of protein. Currently, the global protein demand has increased by 50% since 2000 and is projected to double by 2020,” He stated.
“China knows this and we know this. We’re entering into a protein arms race with China. China is including cultivated meat as part of its blueprint for meat moving forward. A China that controls the protein of the world will control the world,” He continued.
“Our job is to protect our citizens. As a Republican, I take it extremely seriously when we go to regulate a consumer market when we believe in the free market, but I also believe in making sure that your children and your families are safe,” Rep. Alvarez stated in his close on the bill. “It might be safe, but until we have long-term studies that tell me what lab-grown, immortalized cells do to your body, I challenge you to put it in your child,”
“Florida is closed for experimentation on our citizens,” He added.
The bill was approved by the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Appropriations Subcommittee on a vote of 9 to 3, and it will now go to the Infrastructure Strategies Committee, the last committee before the House Floor.
