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Experiments for NASA space missions have shown that small amounts of edible meat can be created in a lab. But the technology that could grow chicken nuggets without the chicken, on a large scale, may not be just a science fiction fantasy. In a paper in the June 29 issue of Tissue Engineering, a team of scientists, including University of Maryland doctoral student Jason Matheny, propose two new techniques of tissue engineering that may one day lead to affordable production of in vitro - lab grown -- meat for human consumption. It is the first peer-reviewed discussion of the prospects...

McDonald’s pays $10m damages Silicon Valley (PTI): Fast food giant McDonald’s will pay $10 million to 24 groups, including the International American Gita Society, as part of a settlement of lawsuits. McDonald’s has been charged with misleading Hindus and vegetarian consumers by “wrongly describing” its French fries, containing beef additive for flavouring, as vegetarian. McDonald’s recently informed the Gita society that it is among the groups receiving the settlement money, the US-based non-profit organisation’s spokesperson, Ramananda Prasad, said. “We are such a small organisation, and nobody supports us, the temples are busy with their own activities,” Prasad, who founded the...

Vegetarianism is sometimes justified on utilitarian grounds. One common argument goes something like this: Since humans and animals have a morally significant similarity, namely, the capacity for pleasure and pain, and since they have no morally significant difference, there is no justification for automatically allowing the interests of humans to trump those of animals. Rather, humans must balance their interests against those of animals in deciding how they ought to treat them. But eating meat provides only a trivial pleasure to humans compared to the pain suffered by the animals eaten. Therefore, humans should not eat animals. Discussion often centers...

"There's absolutely no question that it's unethical for parents to bring up their children as strict vegans." Meat contains important micronutrients. Meat is a vital part of a child's diet, according to a two-year study of Kenyan schoolkids. Without it, children grow up smaller, less strong and less intelligent, the results suggest. So clear are the benefits, in fact, that denying children meat or dairy products in the first few years of life is unethical, argues Lindsay Allen of the University of California, Davis, who carried out the research. The 544 children in the study, who had an average age...

HOBBS, N.M. (AP) - Thick, black clouds of smoke blocked out the sun as firefighters worked to extinguish flames that ripped through a factory here that makes Boca Burgers and other foods. Investigators late Monday were trying to determine how the blaze started. It originated in an area of the building that contained oil used for cooking and spread, causing damage throughout the plant. "It reached its ignition point," Fire Chief Manny Gomez said. "We believe it was in the ceiling and moved through the crawl spaces." All of the employees were evacuated, as were homes on the west side...

WOODMERE, Ohio - The nation's food companies are stirring up new recipes for everything from Oreos to SpaghettiOs to get rid of trans fat, the artery-clogging ingredient that must be listed on food labels next year. The companies say they're promoting good health, but they're also looking ahead to the new federal rule and new dietary guidelines urging consumers away from trans fats. Trans fats have been in the nation's food supply for decades, giving products a long shelf life and making goodies like chips and cookies oh so yummy. They are formed when liquid oils turn into solid fats...

ABILENE -- One of the two American black bears at the Abilene Zoo died after apparently choking on a piece of meat. Boo Boo's body was found about 5 p.m. Monday, 30 minutes after the bears were fed. Once the second bear, Teddy, 13, was moved, the zoo staff made a quick examination and confirmed that Boo Boo, 9, had died. Dr. Clay Hilton, the zoo's consulting veterinarian, said Boo Boo must have eaten quickly and regurgitated a large, unchewed piece of meat that lodged in his windpipe. Boo Boo was known for his never-ending quest for snacks and his...

I have been what is called a pesco-vegetarian for a little over a year now. Before then, I was what is called a pollo-vegetarian for 10 years. Pollo-vegetarians only eat chicken, turkey and fish as meat staples in their diet. Pesco-Vegetarians only eat fish as a form of "live" meat. My goal here is not to preach a vegetarian diet upon all, it is only to inform you all of my experience. At first, my becoming a pesco-veg was merely because of health reasons. Now it has evolved to life and culture reasons, which has caused me to consider cutting...

[A] study conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston... found no reduced risk of cancer among those who consumed at least five servings of fruits and vegetables a day. However, on the positive side, they found eating fruits and vegetables did lower the risk of developing heart disease.

Now you may think this is weird..but I must know.Where do "vegies" fall on the side of politics and the cost of freedom?The reason I am asking this question is that I live in a small town in Michigan that has a 7th Day Adventist College in it and for the most part they are vegetarian. When it comes to politics and war it seems that they tend to stay away from either. Now I know that this has to do with the religion and all but still....is religion the only reason.Bring on the comments.

Don’t Buy the BookSinger's Plague Calling Peter Singer controversial is of course, an understatement. Be that as it may, the controversial Princeton University professor of ethics packed a downtown D.C. bookstore Friday hawking his new book, The President of Good and Evil: The Ethics of George W. Bush (Dutton, 288 pages, $24.95). If the ethicist's reaction was any indicator, the event was less than a rousing success. This heavily Democrat crowd, weaned on the argumentation of Molly Ivins and Michael Moore, must have become so accustomed to any sentence with Bush's name in it ending with a punch line that,...

THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY HAS A BIG PROBLEM named Susan Lindauer, but you would never know this from the reporting by America’s dominant Left-leaning news media. Last Thursday Ms. Lindauer, 41, was arrested in her suburban Washington, D.C. home and charged with “prohibited financial transactions” from, acting as “an unregistered agent of,” and “conspiring” to act as a spy, both before and after the incursion a year ago, for Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi Intelligence Service (IIS). Known in Arabic as the Mukhabbarat, the IIS has reportedly been involved in terrorist operations, intimidating and killing Iraqi defectors and dissidents, and according to Anwar...

Roman gladiators were overweight vegetarians who lived on barley and beans, according to a scientific study of the largest gladiator graveyard discovered. Analysis of the bones of more than 70 gladiators recently found near Ephesus, the Roman capital of Asia Minor, puts paid to traditional Hollywood images of macho carnivores with the physique of boxers. The dietary findings of the scientists from the University of Vienna are detailed in a forthcoming documentary on Channel Five. They may give vegetarians a new, harder image. But the vegetarian stereotype is shattered by the finding that gladiators did not wear sandals but fought...

Already benefiting from the “Atkins” effect, beef sales have increased 867% in the past three months, according to industry analysts who say that the amazing increase is directly attributable to the success of the “Hitler Was a Vegetarian” ad campaign funded by the American Beef Council. “Yeah, Hitler has been real good for beef,” says Mel Saatchi, Creative Director of ad giant Saatchi & Saatchi, the creators of the campaign. “Images of Hitler and hordes of SS and brownshirts eating carrots and tofu have successfully branded in the public’s mind the idea of beef as the food of freedom. From...

Fort Bragg soldier flees to Canada Jeremy Hinzman enlisted to make a difference, then learned what being a soldier is really all aboutBy Patrick O'Neill (First of Two Parts) February 11, 2004 NEWS FEATURE On New Year's Eve, Jeremy Hinzman sat in a McDonald's on N.C. 401 in Fuquay-Varina explaining his precarious situation. On Dec. 20, Hinzman, a U.S. Army specialist stationed at Fort Bragg, got the news he had dreaded. His unit--the 504th Brigade, 2nd Battalion--would be shipping out to Iraq shortly after the new year for an indefinite deployment in the war on terrorism. Last year, Hinzman, 25,...

(East Providence-AP) -- A billboard sign urging people to go vegetarian that shows the Virgin Mary cradling a chicken carcass is coming down.The animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PEE-Tah) paid three-thousand dollars to rent the billboard off Interstate 195 for a month. The sign was put up a week ago.Some religious leaders have complained it's offensive and the sign has been defaced with spray paint.The company that owns the billboard says the sign will be taken down over the next few days and P-E-T-A will get part if its payment back.Robert Murray, co-owner of Massachusetts-based...

Group Picks R.I. To Launch Vegetarianism CampaignPROVIDENCE -- A billboard in Providence, R.I., is urging people to go vegetarian with the image of Virgin Mary cradling a chick carcass, according to a Local 6 News report. The animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals launched the campaign in Rhode Island because it has the highest percentage of Catholics in the United States. The billboard can be seen by motorists near exit 4 on Interstate 195 in East Providence and includes the phrase, "Go Vegetarian. It's an Immaculate Conception." PETA said its message is designed to highlight that...

Carol Adams, feminist activist and author, spoke to a crowd of approximately 300 people Monday night about the connection between feminism and vegetarianism. Adams, who authored "The Sexual Politics of Meat" and most recently "The Pornography of Meat," presented a slide show that emphasized the connection between women portrayed as animals and animals personified as feminine, demonstrating how the two groups are oppressed in similar ways. Many student groups, including Madison Coalition for Animal Rights, Campus Vegetarian Society, and Campus Women's Center, invited Adams to Madison to discuss her views on how vegetarianism and veganism will lead to the liberation...

<p>The good people of Rodeo -- who like animals as much as anyone else, especially for breakfast -- declared Tuesday that their precious heritage is worth more than $20,000 in veggie burgers.</p> <p>"They can keep their veggie burgers,'' said Doug Boyum. "I'm not going to sell out for a veggie burger. I'm not going to sell out, period.''</p>

PETA (people for the ethical treatment of animals) has done some outrageous things in the name of getting more donations, so they can keep their jobs and organization viable. Things like writing and publicizing a letter to Yassir Arafat asking him to make sure that he sees to it that the next suicide bomber not set off his bomb near animals, and just aim to kill people. PETA is also famous for offering various cities across the globe 10 to 15 thousand dollars to change their name from Hamburg to a more vegetable sounding name. PETA people have even attacked...