Michigan lawmaker aims to ban the sale of lab-grown meats statewide

A Michigan lawmaker is aiming to ban the sale of lab-grown meats statewide.

Rep. Jim DeSana, R-Carleton, introduced House Bill 5879 in June. The bill is now before the House Agriculture Committee.

“This is about protecting our ranchers and about protecting the integrity of our food supply,” DeSana said. “This is also about protecting your right to provide food for yourself and your family.”

The U.S. Department of Agriculture approved the sale of what it called “cell-cultivated meat” last year.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation to ban lab-grown meat in May, becoming the first governor to do so.

DeSana’s bill in the Michigan Legislature defines “cultivated meat” as “a meat or meat product that was produced from cultured animal tissue produced from in vitro animal cell cultures outside of the animal from which the cells were derived.”

The bill doesn’t address consumer health or safety concerns but seeks to remove consumer choice, Shoshana Weissmann, R Street's digital media director, told Michigan Capitol Confidential in an email.

“In Florida, Gov. DeSantis didn’t even pretend his actions were about anything but pure industry protectionism,” Weissmann wrote. “For years, some in the meat industry have tried to prevent vegetable imitations of meat from using free speech to describe its product accurately. Now it is moving onto the next economic threat."

DeSana has been a farmer for two decades. He is a member of the Michigan Sheep Producers Association as well as the Michigan Cattlemen’s Association.

DeSana, a first-term lawmaker, ran for office after his son couldn’t compete on a rowing team during his senior year due to COVID restrictions.

“The ‘follow-the-science’ crowd canceled a sport that competes outside in the fresh air, on a river. I’m done with these people,” DeSana said in a press release. “I don’t trust them when they say to follow The Science because they did some of the most anti-scientific things possible, and they still haven’t acknowledged the harm they caused. So no, I don’t want lab-grown meat as a substitute for the real thing and I don’t want to get my protein by eating bugs. Let the chickens eat the bugs the way nature intended; we’ll eat the chickens.”

He also introduced a resolution to enshrine the right to hunt in Michigan’s constitution.