Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan should include federal money for cultured-meat development in the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act. For those who don’t know, cultured meat is grown from animal cells, without slaughter. The bipartisan USICA authorizes billions of dollars in funding for technology research over five years.

Cellular agriculture will save countless sentient beings from unimaginable torture on factory farms. Because livestock are removed from the process, the threat of zoonotic viruses making the jump to humans will be significantly reduced. Finally, cultured meat requires a fraction of the greenhouse-gas emissions that its slaughtered counterpart does.

For these reasons and more, legislators should add government funding for cellular-agriculture research to the USICA. The private sector has made remarkable progress in the field. But significant hurdles remain, like reaching price parity with slaughtered meat and developing whole-cut products, such as cultivated steaks and filets.

Jon Hochschartner41 Salmon Brook StreetGranby, CT 06035(860) 653-2189