<a href='http://entertainment.tv.yahoo.com/entnews/wwn/20030516/105309720008.html ' target=newwin>http://entertainment.tv.yahoo.com/entnews/wwn/20030516/105309720008.html </a> MANCHESTER, England -- Here's some good news that vegetarians can really sink their teeth into: Researchers have developed genetically engineered fruit trees that bear real meat! Fruit from the new Meat Trees, developed by British scientists using gene-splicing technology, closely resembles ordinary grapefruit. But when you peel the large fruit open, inside is fresh beef. "Our trees may sound like something out of a science fiction movie, but it's really a simple, down-to-earth idea whose time has come," declares Dr. Vincent Tartley, director of agricultural bioengineering research for the UltraModAgri Group, which created the amazing trees. "Vegetarians have been complaining for years that despite their moral convictions against consuming meat, they still crave the flavor of a good steak once in a while. Now they can have their cake and eat it too." Although it's taken 12 years to develop the trees, the concept is simple. "We take the genes from cattle that produce key proteins and splice them into the reproductive cells of grapefruit trees," he says. "When the seeds mature into trees, instead of producing ordinary citrus fruit, the pulp contains meat. You get the flavor, texture -- even the smell." Those who've sampled the meat agree it tastes like the real thing. "I was a bit skeptical at first when I sank my teeth into a hamburger after they told me it grew on a tree," says Londoner Mark Basker, 41, who participated in a consumer taste-test. "But it was juicy and delicious -- nothing leafy about it at all." Meat grown on trees needs only sun, water and fertilizer and thus is more cost-effective than raising livestock, Dr. Tartley also points out. Meat Tree products could be on the market in Great Britain by year's end and, pending USDA approval, on dinner plates in the U.S. by 2005. Some fanatical vegetarians insist they could never eat meat -- even if it grew on a tree and no animals had to be killed. Others love the idea. "My mouth is watering already," says a committed vegetarian of 20 years. But religious leaders are uneasy about "trans-species genetic engineering." "Mixing animal and vegetable DNA to create a new species is playing God," argues Rev. Lawrence Bedlow, Britain's leading expert in medical ethics.
You do realize that is from The Weekly World News? The same site has a teen buying a nuke on EBay and that Al-qada is sending AIDS infected girls to the US.
Does that mean we will now have "Mad Tree Disease"? What will we do with the cows if tree meat becomes the norm? At least cows get to breed and live until their slaughtered(granted...not very appealing but they lived). Is that better than never breeding any at all to keep the population in check? Hmm...
I'm sorry, my friend sent me the link and since I saw the Yahoo logo up top I thought its credible. After looking further into it, I realize that its in the gossip/entertainment section.
Just when you think your favorite euphamism, "meat tree," is immune to confusion or misinterpretation...
If a trees survival depended on meat attachement then one could possibly conceive of a meat producing tree. But you would need that connection. Perhaps a need via reproduction (like a flower) or through defense (like bark). Let me try to imagine a scenario just for fun. Let's say that there are no winds and no bees to carry pollen. Maybe evolution decides to inherit the sloth as part of the tree as a way to attract flies to it's reproductive glands. The fly then carries the pollen back to another meat growing tree on it's feet and fertilizes it. Wahoo. The reason for meat growing trees now exists. As a defense mechanism, you could say that a tree may want to grow meat if a specific carniovre can protect it against another tenacious herbivore. Let's pretend that trees all over the world are dying due some seed eating birds. If you had a meart growing tree that attracted huge snakes you wouldn't have birds trying to eat all of it's seeds. They'd be afraid. Trees have developed symbiotic relationships with animals before. But most of the time with herbivores. So it's not inconceivable that they would try to do the same thing with carnivores But I'm mad I tell ya just some meat for thought.
my friend craig actually thought tamales grew on plants. i guess he just saw the corn husk and assumed veggie product , but.. i dont think the abuse he gets about that comment will stop anytime soon.
