Move over, electric vehicles and gas stoves: A new product is taking center stage in the culture wars.

In recent months, Republican politicians have taken aim at lab-grown meat — also called “cell-cultured” or “cultivated” proteins — seeking to criminalize its production and distribution before the companies creating the products can get to market.

And with the industry in its infancy, the GOP lawmakers are trying to strangle it in its crib by manufacturing a philosophical wedge to keep consumers away.

“They blame agriculture for global warming. I know the legislature is doing a bill to try to protect our meat — You need meat, OK? We’re gonna have meat in Florida,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said […] of SB1084, a proposed law in Florida to ban cultured meat.

“There’s no question there’s an attempt to create this right-left division using cultivated meat as a cudgel — and it’s just silly,” said [CEO Josh] Tetrick, whose GOOD Meat has sold less than 5,000 pounds of its cultivated chicken protein since it received approval to sell in Singapore in 2020.

“We find it pretty hypocritical because, in a lot of these states, there’s a beating of the chest about free market capitalism and the American way,” he said. “But in the middle of beating their chests, they’re saying, ‘except when it comes to something that would potentially harm an industry that I rely on for donations.'”

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