A North Carolina startup found a way to grow real leather from cow cells in a lab, a sustainable breakthrough that could cut emissions and eliminate slaughter in the $400 billion leather industry.
sustainable breakthrough that could cut emissions and eliminate slaughter in the $400 billion leather industry
Seems pretty pointless when leather is a byproduct of slaughter for meat, and meat (not leather) drives the demand for cows.
Even at 0 leather demand, cow slaughter & their impact on the environment would continue at the same levels.
For the slow: if we switched entirely to lab-grown leather, then what would we do with the unused cowhide stripped from butchered cows?
Let it go to waste while redundantly pumping unnecessary resources to grow the same thing in the lab?
That’s massively stupid.
This reminds me of the invention of edible food wrappers entirely missing the point of wrappers protecting the food from contamination which would now include the wrapper needing protection.
Seems pretty pointless when leather is a byproduct of slaughter for meat, and meat (not leather) drives the demand for cows. Even at 0 leather demand, cow slaughter & their impact on the environment would continue at the same levels.
For the slow: if we switched entirely to lab-grown leather, then what would we do with the unused cowhide stripped from butchered cows? Let it go to waste while redundantly pumping unnecessary resources to grow the same thing in the lab? That’s massively stupid.
This reminds me of the invention of edible food wrappers entirely missing the point of wrappers protecting the food from contamination which would now include the wrapper needing protection.