raised in laboratory conditions . `` We could reduce the risks of diseases like swine flu , avian flu , ` mad cow disease ' , or contamination from Salmonella , '' he told CNN . `` We could produce meat in sterile conditions that are impossible in conventional animal farms and slaughterhouses . And when we grow only the meat we can eat , it 's more efficient . There 's no need to grow the whole animal and lose 75 to 95 percent of what we feed it . '' Conventional meat production is also hard on the environment . The contribution of livestock to climate change was recently highlighted by the United Nations ' report , `` Livestock 's Long Shadow '' , while groups such as Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth have demonstrated how soy farming for animal feed contributes to the destruction of the Amazon . In this context Matheny believes his project could significantly cut the environmental impact of meat production -- using much less water and producing far fewer greenhouse gases . `` We could reduce the environmental footprint of meat , which currently contributes more to global warming than the entire
-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Meat is murder ? Well , perhaps not for much longer . Artist Banksy has satirized modern farming and meat production ; could in-vitro meat be a better option ? A pioneering group of scientists are working to grow real animal protein in the laboratory , which they not only claim is better for animal welfare , but actually healthier , both for people and the planet . It may sound like science fiction , but this technology to create in-vitro meat could be changing global diets within ten years . `` Cultured meat would have a lot of advantages , '' said Jason Matheny of research group New Harvest . `` We could precisely control the amount of fat in meat . We could make ground beef with an ideal fatty acid ratio -- a hamburger that prevents heart attacks instead of causing them . '' But it is n't just the possibility of creating designer ground beef with the fat profile of salmon that drives Matheny 's work . Meat and livestock farming is also the source of many human diseases , which he claims would be far less common when the product is