Two bills introduced in the Arizona Legislature may suggest that the 2024 session of these “democracy institutes” will be something like “alternative meat.”
Arizona Rep. David Marshall, R-Snowflake, and four co-sponsors have introduced House Bill 2121, which would ban cell-cultured animal products.
HB2121 prohibits persons in Arizona from offering to sell or produce cell-cultured animal products for human consumption. The state is authorized to impose civil penalties on violators of up to $25,000 in addition to attorney’s fees and costs, with actual damages not to exceed $100,000.
Additionally, the bill BB2121 would allow “any person or entity whose business has been adversely affected by a violation” to bring a civil action seeking declaratory and injunctive relief and actual damages “against any person who violates this section.” I admit it.
The bill defines a “cell cultured animal product” as “any cultured animal tissue produced from in vitro animal cell culture outside the organism of origin.”
The bill states that HB2121 is a “statewide concern necessary to protect the public health.”
A second bill, HB2244, sponsored by Rep. Phan Nguyen, R-Prescott Valley, has also been introduced, but it only seeks to limit lab-grown meat that deceives consumers. Nguyen’s bill would make it illegal to intentionally mislabel products that do not come from livestock or poultry as if they were actually meat.
HB2121’s legislative findings are unlikely to sit well with venture capitalists who fund cell-based labs. Findings include:
1. Regulation of cell-cultured animal products is a statewide concern necessary to protect public health.
2. The state’s cattle industry is integral to its history, culture, values, and economy.
3. Cattle are one of the five fundamental pillars that have driven the state’s economy since territorial times.
4. The production and sale of lab-grown, cell-cultured animal products is prohibited by beneficiaries of this state’s trust lands and by leasing state lands to ranchers for livestock grazing to generate funding. may harm the fullest and best use of the State’s trust lands, including public schools and other public institutions;
5. This law is necessary to protect this country’s sovereign interests, historical, economic and culinary heritage.
Since 2019, USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) and FDA have jointly agreed to safely regulate lab-grown meat. Starting in 2022, both agencies will approve applications for lab-made products.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has not yet received any proposals for cell-cultured meat, as food safety approvals are not forthcoming. The proposal would need to pass EFSA’s new food review, which could be more rigorous than the reviews FSIS and FDA conduct in the United States.
Meanwhile, Italy has banned the production of cultured meat to preserve tradition. The ban was adopted by the Italian parliament with 159 votes in favor and 53 against.
“Italy is the first country in the world to be protected from the social and economic risks of synthetic foods,” Francesco Lollobrigida, the country’s agriculture minister, said in a statement.
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