Tow #10 - "Test-Tube Burgers" by Michael Specter (Written Text)

Michael Specter, a journalist for the New Yorker who focuses on science, technology, and global public health, crafts his essay "Test-Tube Burgers" in order to argue the beneficial effects of cultured meat versus the detrimental effects of harvesting meat from livestock. He effectively crafts his text through the use of chronological logod as well as drawing out a disgusted sympathy for the animals from the readers. He begins with the initial development of cultured meats, or meats produced through "tissue engineering", when biologist Alexis Carrel demonstrated, "that it was possible to keep muscle tissue alive outside the body for an extended period" (Specter 2). This was the beginning of cultured meats, which Specter goes on to argue has numerous benefits over livestock. He pushes the detrimental effects for the future if Americans continue to raise and chemically alter animals for slaughter. After explaining the environmental effects of raising livestock, like the rise in green house gas emissions or the absurd amount of land inhabited by these animals, Specter proves that "the ecological implications are daunting, and so are the implications for animal welfare: billions of cows, pigs, and chickens spend their lives crated, boxed, or force-fed grain in repulsive conditions on factory farms" (Specter 2). As Specter channels his inner PETA, he draws up the age old emotional factor; these animals are not being treated as living beings, but are instead being objectified. This idea guilts the readers into favoring cultured meat, where no living creature is harmed in the production of this food. He sums up the essay by stating research-based facts: "one study, completed last year, by researchers at Oxford and the University of Amsterdam, reported that the production of cultured meat could consume roughly half the energy and occupy just two per cent of the land now devoted to the world's meat industry" (Specter 4). Specter points out that if the environment is such a large concern to everyone around the world, why would they not support the production of cultured meats that could reduce the carbon footprint humans leave on this Earth? Through brilliant chronological logic and strong emotional appeals, Michael Spencer convinces New Yorker readers everywhere that cultured meats are the future and livestock is a thing of the past.