Jacket Grown from Living Tissue

RangerRick98 writes "Wired has a story about growing jackets from living tissue. The jacket is grown using "a biodegradable polymer as a base," a coating of 3T3 mouse cells (which apparently continue to grow and split even after being removed from their host), and human bone cells for rigidity. The jacket grown so far is only about 2 x 1.4 inches. The hope is that when the polymer degrades, the jacket will retain its structure. The focus behind this work is 'victimless' leather."

Comments

Re:Save the cows.

[delta_avi_delta]

Nonsense! Before then we'll have "victimless meat" where we take and clone cattle muscle cells into hordes of artificial steaks...

I'm sorry but killing things to eat them is natural, it's what we do. Using the left-overs as clothing is just good economic sense. I've always been impressed by the Lapps, who use virtually every part of the reindeer they slaughter. Ironically, one of the reindeer bones is used to make a lassoo, which is used to catch reindeer... :)

You know...

[SLiK812]

When this is all said and done, and there will be no more innocent animal victims, but the planet is going to be the victim of overpopulation from animals, letting off CO2 and methane.

Yes, it's important that we don't kill off all animals, and yes it's important that they're treated humanely, but my lunch and winter wear is darned important too! Not to mention the ability to live on a safe and hospitable planet.

Jiminy jillikers people.

Re:You know...

[arashi no garou]

I am as much an animal lover as anyone, probably more than some. I just wonder where some of the more extreme PETA people get the idea that it's "wrong" to kill an animal for food or clothing. Humans are as much animals as any other creature on this earth, and you don't see PETA freaks lobbying to stop lions from killing gazelles for meat. Also, you never hear them talk about indigenous tribes in Africa and South America for whom hunting and skinning is an integral part of their society and ecology. I guess when the natives start driving cars and watching TV it will suddenly be "wrong" of them to eat meat and wear animal parts!

I think we're missing the real benefit here

[El]

Seamless leather clothes, grown exactly to your dimensions -- now that's something I'd pay money for! Most of my leather jackets seem to come apart at the seams after several years of continuous use and abuse... can they also genetically engineer these cells for different pigments and eliminate the dyeing done on most natural leather products?

zerg

[Lord Omlette]

Uh, wow. What's next, a chair made of human skulls?

Re:Save the cows.

[blincoln]

We're growing cattle for their meat anyway - if we can't or won't use the leather (a byproduct of the cow) it would just go to waste.

Growing cattle en masse for meat is one of the worst possible things that can be done for the environment. It contributes to global warming through greenhouse gases, wastes agricultural space by growing feed and using water that could go to humans instead, et cetera.

A lot of cattle are even raised at the expense of rainforests, because people in e.g. South America will slash and burn e.g. the Amazon to make places to raise them.

The main reason that the meat industry is profitable is because they are able to sell so many by-products to be used in so many other ways - leather, gelatin, and so on. If, for example, cheaper vat-grown alternatives were used, I expect that meat prices would increase dramatically, and maybe Americans would end up eating food that is actually good for them and the planet instead of clogging up their arteries and digestive tract and helping to ensure the doom of the biosphere.

I would buy one of these jackets in a second if they were available commercially, but in the meantime I've found that Vegetarian Shoes' synthetic material lasts longer than the real thing anyway.

Re:Save the cows.

[Noofus]

I eat meat with nearly every meal, and own a few leather jackets of varying weights for the different seasons. I do not have a problem with killing an animal to "use" it. Since life on earth seems to be structured this way, its fine with me. But if there is a way to honestly 'grow' leather and meat that didnt require killing an animal, I would be first in line. Assuming of course all the flavor of the meat is retained, and all the warmth, feel, smell of leather is still there.

Presumably this would free up land for other uses. The land previously used for raising cattle could be used as solar or wind evergy farms. This would be particularly necessary since we still would need to get energy from somewhere to do the growing of the 'meat'. Currently this energy is provided by the sun which grows the grass which grows the cows.

Growing the meat directly likely would save a lot of energy. It would also reduce pollution from manure that gets into the water and other chemicals that get used in the process of growing cows.

From a unrepentant consumer of animal's perspective, I see this as a very good thing if it can be scaled to production levels.

Re:Life

[blincoln]

I find this manipulation of living things far more disrespectful to our environment, and all things living than harvesting the hide of dead cattle.

You find it less disrespectful to have something killed for your own benefit than to wear something that was grown in a lab? I find *that* extraordinarily creepy.

You are covered by and host to millions of things that are more alive than this coat. How is that any different?