‘So much for free market capitalism huh?’: Is Alabama’s lab-grown meat ban a harbinger of ‘big government?’ Some think so

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The Bill: 

SB23, or “Food Products, manufacture and distribution of meat from cultured animal cells prohibited” is an Alabama Senate bill that bans lab grown meat. It was signed into law by state Governor Kay Ivy on May 7.

Lab grown meat is meat created from animal cells, rather than harvested from the slaughtered bodies of animals. It debuted in 2013 in London, and it’s considered “cheaper, faster, and more environmentally friendly to produce.”

In addition to banning “the manufacture, sale, or distribution of food products made from cultured animal cells,” SB23 created penalties for selling lab-grown meat, too.

The Backlash:

The Republican party—which Ivy and the Alabama state senator who introduced the bill, Jack Williams, are a part of—historically backs the idea of a smaller government that interferes less with American’s lives. That belief held true among Republicans nationwide, as shown in Pew Research’s 2007-2014 Religious Landscape Study.

But now, bans like the Alabama law feel like a government overstep to some, and one that interferes too much with free market capitalism.

“So much for free market capitalism huh?” an X user posted about the ban. “This is despotic.”

“GOP standing up for freedom and capitalism by telling citizens what they can and can't do,” another person said.

One X user even wrote that “Republicans hate personal freedom.”

The Background: 

But not everyone hates the lab grown meat ban: Ivy’s signing of the Alabama ban followed Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s approval of a ban in his state and both were also highly praised online. DeSantis’s ban even got a shoutout from Senator John Fetterman (D-Penn.).

As for why Republicans are against lab grown meat? That’s because it’s considered “woke meat.”

DeSantis specifically said lab grown meat is “the global elite’s plan to force the world to eat meat grown in a petri dish or bugs to achieve their authoritarian goals.” Not all lab grown meat comes from insect cells, but some does.

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