SCIENCE

The battle is on between the scientists and vegans of Tufts. On March 30, 2023, a protest took place outside of Fresh at Carmichael as a way to stand against the use of cultivated meat in Tufts’ dining halls.

The Experiment

The Kaptain Lab has had quite the spotlight for some time for its continued work in cultivated meats. In fact, the first week of March came with approval to move their research from the lab to the real world.

In coordination with researchers at Tufts, the Carmichael Dining Team agreed to be the site of a human trial phase in order to determine any effects of the cultivated meat on the human body.

In order to eradicate any preconceptions regarding labgrown meat, Tufts’ student body was not made aware of this phase of the research. The experimental and the control variables were divided into two sections: the cultivated meat was served during lunchtime while the conventionally-produced meat was served during dinner time.

The students needed to be completely randomized, and not repeated, in the experimental and the control sets. When asked how this was done, graduate student Kenny Burger, who works in the Kaptain Lab, said, “One thing to know is that scientists rely a lot on luck. And we just got really lucky that none of the same students had both the lunch meat option and the dinner meat option.

Additionally, in order to follow up with the students about their experience eating the two types of meat over the course of the next few days, those who chose the meat options needed to be identified.

Naturally, the researchers could not ask for the names of the students. To not raise suspicion, the servers serving the food simply asked the names of the students, prefacing that it was a dare to see how many people’s names they were able to memorize. Little did the students know that someone right behind the wall was writing those names down.

When the time to follow up with the students had arrived, the results were shocking. In fact, those who had the cultivated meat experienced zero side effects, while those who ate the conventional meat option claimed that they had experienced diarrhea, nausea, and severe stomach pain.

It is safe to say that cultivated meat, thus far, has proven not only beneficial to the environment and the preservation of animals’ lives, but also to students who dine at Fresh at Carmichael.

The Response

Unfortunately, once news broke about the experiment, the response, especially from the vegans, was anything but satis- factory.

One identified vegan, sophomore Lauren V. Eghan, expressed their disdain for the use of cultivated meat in society.

“Everyone thinks that cultivated meat is a step in the right direction. Sure, we no longer have to kill the animals in order to eat them, but now, it’s just exploitation. Did they receive the animals’ consent to taking their cells? I highly doubt it,” they stated.

The main veganism club on campus, Vegans4Good, decided to hold a protest to further convey their opinions. The five protesters stayed outside Carmichael for eleven hours, even after the dining hall closed. “We’re just very opinionated,” one protester said in response to being asked the purpose of staying that long.

The Tufts Daily wanted to give the scientists behind the cultivated meat research a chance to reply to Vegans4Good, so we reached out to Dr. Daniel Kaptain, who provided his thoughts regarding Vegans4Good’s thoughts about cultivated meat.

“It’s super disappointing when we don’t get full support behind the research that we do, especially because the idea of cultivated meat was brought about to produce a solution to the very problems that vegans have brought to our attention. They claimed that factory farming was bad for the environment and that the killing of animals for our taste buds was unethical. But now, they seem to claim that even our seemingly successful solution is simply another problem. I’m confused because it seems like they are never satisfied. I guess I would say to them, ‘Hungry? Why wait? Eat a snickers.’ But I don’t think Snickers is vegan,” he said.

It should be noted that an anonymous Tufts student saw Vegans4Good enter Chick-fil-A after the protest ended.