(I love writing headlines like that.)
A new, $1 million science prize is available, on an unlikely topic and from an unlikely source. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), an organization not known for promoting science, has announced a $1 million jackpot for the "first person to come up with a method to produce commercially viable quantities of in vitro meat at competitive prices by 2012."
A New York Times article by John Schwartz quotes PETA founder Ingrid Newkirk as saying that the proposal for the prize caused a "'near civil war'" at PETA because (quoting the article now and not Newkirk), "so many PETA members are repulsed by the thought of eating animal tissue, even if no animals are killed."
"Lisa Lange, a vice president of the organization, said she was part of the heated exchange. “My main concern is, as the largest animal rights organization in the world, it’s our job to introduce the philosophy and hammer it home that animals are not ours to eat.” Ms. Lange added, “I remember saying I would be much more comfortable promoting eating roadkill.”
