[partisan]

“Fetal bovine serum (FBS) is a ubiquitously used essential supplement in cell culture media. However, there are serious scientific and ethical concerns about the use of FBS regarding its harvest and production.”

From an abstract of a research paper regarding FBS-free media.

[newaccount74]

For those who have never heard of FBS, the "ethical concern" is that FBS is made by slaughtering pregnant cows, cutting the calf fetus from the cow, and then draining the blood from the fetus by sticking a needle in its heart. When I first read about that I was a bit shocked, even though I'm not a vegetarian and have even worked with FBS during a lab at university, blissfully unaware how they made that yellow fluid.

[allisdust]

Wow. And I thought a komodo dragon eating a pregnant deer with fetus was the worst I have seen or imagined. Ethics aside, how do the people doing the procedure stand it without going crazy.

[yurishimo]

I'll answer your question, but it's really pretty simple. It's the same way that people have done all sorts of terrible things since the dawn of man.

Someone had to slaughter the livestock. Hunters ran down animals and killed them when they became exhausted, and to be a bit more blunt, we kill each other in wars and senseless violence every day. Look no further than our current conflict in Ukraine to see what that's like, even amidst our advanced society.

Humans have an enormous capacity for empathy and kindness, but we're also capable of some truly horrific acts if the circumstances require or demand it.

[enjrolas]

> Humans have an enormous capacity for empathy and kindness, but we're also capable of some truly horrific acts.

(fixed that for you)

[asmertgen]

Yes, exactly, getting rid of FBS is crucial for making cultivated meat more ethical and sustainable than traditional meat!