House rejects amendments to water down cultivated meat ban

A ban on the sale of cultivated meat in Florida appears poised for passage.

The House rejected any changes to a Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services bill (SB 1084), including the removal of language barring cellular agriculture.

Rep. Danny Alvarez, a Tampa Republican, said the Legislature cannot tolerate businesses selling lab-grown meat, regardless of whether the Food and Drug Administration said it’s safe. He defended the ban against arguments lawmakers were passing protectionist language for traditional ranchers while shutting down an industry in its infancy.

“I’m sensitive to the argument. I completely am,” Alvarez said. “But the truth of the matter is, I am choosing a side, and the side we’re choosing is the citizens of the state of Florida. We will discriminate against anyone who tries to hurt them and harm them. Or not even give us enough information to make informed consent.”

Earlier in the day, Rep. Jim Mooney, an Islamorada Republican, filed one of multiple amendments to the bill that would have stripped language on cultivated meat out. Mooney’s measure would have imposed labeling requirements so anyone selling cultivated meat had to inform consumers of its origins, and he also would have prohibited the importation of the product from countries of concern like China, but would have allowed the sale of domestically produced lab-grown meat.

But Mooney withdrew his amendment immediately before it came up for consideration on the House floor.

Representatives did consider several amendments from Rep. Anna Eskamani, an Orlando Democrat. That included a measure dropping all language about cultivated meat from the bill.

She argued the legislation would stifle innovation in an attempt to shut down competition for traditional farmers.

“I don’t think the state of Florida should be picking winners and losers and allow corporate capture to take place,” she said.

Alvarez did adopt language in committee to allow scientific research of cultivating meat by NASA and other institutions in Florida.

He rejected comparisons of cultured meat to fatty foods, including beef, and cigarettes. Unlike those examples, he said the public cannot make informed consent on whether to consume the product because it is too new.

Democrats also pushed against language in the bill that would preempt any local regulations involving electric vehicle charging stations. But any amendments leaving local governments authority on that issue were also shut down on the floor.

The Senate already passed the agriculture bill with some adjustments to the electrical vehicle language, but with the cultivated meat ban still intact. The House has taken up the Senate version of the bill and expects to pass it on Wednesday.