Would an ethical vegetarian eat meat grown in a lab?

I got into a discussion about this in the car on a way to a business function. Nobody in the car was a vegetarian, so we really had no idea...I thought I'd throw this out to DU.

Let's say scientists found a way to grow meat. (I am not a scientist, so I don't know how.) For the sake of argument, let's say no actual animals are harmed, or even needed (maybe a few donor cells or something). Let's also assume that the meat has the same nutritional profile as regular meat, minus the food-safety issues (i.e. no mad cow in lab-grown beef). Further, there are no health or "frankenfood" risks with this meat. Assume the safety tests are infallable, and take out other political issues such as corporate greed. It's meat, plain and simple.

So...if you were a vegetarian for ethical reasons, would you eat lab-grown meat, or would you still have difficulty doing so? (I'd assume someone who was a vegetarian for health reasons would still stay away, as lab beef would still have the cholesterol, etc., and someone who plain doesn't like meat would obviously not want to eat it, regardless of how it came about.)

1. Since a few cells from a dead animal would be needed to start the process, it's still a product of exploitation.

2. It legitimizes meat in the way wearing faux fur makes fur more socially acceptable. If somebody who knows that I'm vegan walks by and sees me gnawing on a steak, that implies that I've decided that exploiting animals for meat is acceptable or that I believe that there's an advantage to humans in consuming flesh.

3. Unless there's an obvious visual or taste difference, how do I know I'm not getting regular meat?

4. My taste and digestion have adapted to my present diet. Eating meat would result in some rather ugly digestive consequences.

plus, why eat meat when there's Hufu?

http://www.eathufu.com/home.asp

Assume that the certification process is infallable and you are cooking it yourself (or a trusted friend is). If the label says it's the lab stuff, it is.

(OK, yeah, big suspension of disbelief here but, again, argument's sake...)

#2 and #4 are harder to control for...you're probably right about #4 (although a friend of mine went on a meat bender after being vegetarian, not vegan, for about a year with no ill effects -- he's probably the exception). And, yeah, if meat would taste foul to you (and many vegans I know say they can't even stand the smell of it, even though they loved it before, because they're repulsed by where it came from), you wouldn't want the fake stuff either.

#2 is interesting to me...PETA, I think, encourages the use of faux fur and leather. And the psycho woman who owns this vintage store near me sells it, too, even though she has a lot of anti-fur/leather and pro-vegan signeage in her store (psycho = she once shouted a co-worker of mine out of the store for wearing leather -- even though it was a fake-leather coat...purchased AT THAT STORE.). But what you say makes sense.

Thanks...

I wouldn't eat it for the same reason I wouldn't eat unfertlized eggs from a neigbbor's pet hen or a haunch of venison from a deer struck by a car- doing so legitimizes the idea that animals exist to service humans in some way.

Of course, there's still the digestive issue, the fact that seeing or smelling meat is really gross to me, etc but you just wanted to know about the ethical aspect.

I don't agree with PETA about everything. Obviously I'd rather somebody wear faux to real dead fur, but I think wearing faux still legitimizes and emboldens carcass-wearers. I want the selfish fuckers to stand out, 'cause I don't think they're brave enough to walk around in theier stolen hides with thier heads high when everybody's looking and knows what they've done.

It's been decades for me. I really don't like the taste and texture and smell.
I just don't see that I would.