Europe decides it doesn’t like lab-grown meat before it’s tried it

For its detractors, it is an abomination—“Franken-meat”. For its advocates, meat grown from animal cells (known as lab-grown, cultured or cultivated) promises to help save the planet. It could slash the water consumption and greenhouse-gas emissions of the livestock industry (around 12% of the global total). Even if lab-grown meat merely replaced the stuff currently fed to pets, it would reduce the need to kill other animals. But it might pose an existential risk to livestock farmers, who are already protesting vigorously in Europe at rising costs, environmental restrictions and mounting paperwork.