Does Lab Grown Meat Make Cannibalism Okay?

Two of the main reasons that cannibalism is considered ‘wrong’ besides taboo are:

1. Killing of a human to get their flesh

2. Desecration of a corpse

However with in-vitro meat (meat grown in a lab), neither of those two conditions of cannibalism would be relevant as no human bodies, living or dead, would be harmed, which raises an interesting question.

One of the main arguments against cannibalism for ethical reasons, however, would still apply in the context of lab grown meat. Frederick Ferre, a philosopher of the 20th century, strongly believes that due to the complexity and capability of humans, eating human flesh is disrespectful to the value of our bodies and to humanity itself. Initially it makes sense to agree with Ferre, as we are all conditioned to be strongly against the idea of cannibalism, for centuries it has been associated with “savage civilizations” and evil religious rituals, and something we would never consider. However when I think about this topic I also think about aborted fetuses.

The use of fetal cell lines, which come from fetal tissue have been used to create vaccines since the 1960s. This medical practice recently made headlines during the pandemic as rumors swirled that the nearly compulsory Covid-19 vaccines contain aborted fetuses (not literally true), and especially when former president Donald Trump took Remdesiver and monoclonal antibodies to treat his Covid symptoms, as all were developed using fetal cells. Many pro-choice advocates who disagree with Trump’s pro-life stance were quick to call out his hypocrisy in using the scientific advancements made possible by voluntary abortions for his own benefit.

As someone who is pro-choice, I saw no issue with using these cell cultures for scientific advancement, as the abortions that led to their collection were voluntary. Bringing it back to cannibalism, if the humans whose cell donations to scientific research of lab-grown human flesh consent to such activity, why should I not have the same attitude about consuming it the way I would to the J&J vaccine?

Researching this topic has made me more supportive the development of in vitro human flesh, but, don’t worry, not for cannibalism. There seems to be a lot of potential with this scientific advancement, such as life saving or quality improving medical transplants. Human skin can be grown in labs and used for injury and disease recovery, so if human tissue, and other organs could, then it would be super helpful. Recreating human flesh first, could possibly make the process easier for other organs. Under this lens, thinking about artificial human body part creation for medical purposes, ties back to the idea that consuming human parts through cannibalism is disrespectful. For instance, if scientists could make artificial human livers, it would seem clearly still wrong to eat as pate because it could otherwise be transplanted and save someone’s life. Even though there might be less of a need for human flesh in the medical field, the fact that it could potentially be used at all for medical purposes, makes consuming it seem wrong to me.

If you can get over the taboos surrounding the issue, do you think in vitro human flesh can be ethically grown or consumed?