To the editor:

Way back in 1931, Winston Churchill predicted the rise of cultured meat. For those who don’t know know, this revolutionary protein is grown from animal cells, without slaughter. It has only recently been granted regulatory approval in Singapore. An Israeli company has reduced its production cost to $7.50 for a quarter-pound of cultured chicken.

“With a greater knowledge of what are called hormones, i.e. the chemical messengers in our blood, it will be possible to control growth,” the future British leader wrote in Strand Magazine. “We shall escape the absurdity of growing a whole chicken in order to eat the breast or wing, by growing these parts separately under a suitable medium.”

Now, more than ever, our food system is an absurdity. It’s environmentally destructive, terribly cruel and a potential breeding ground for pandemics. That’s why we need federal funding for cultured-meat research. We must bring this groundbreaking protein to market as quickly as possible — at a price competitive with slaughtered meat.

Jon Hochschartner

Granby, Connecticut