(CNN) -- Meat is murder? Well, perhaps not for much longer.

A pioneering group of scientists are working to grow real animal
protein in the laboratory, which they not only claim is better for
animal welfare, but actually healthier, both for people and the
planet. It may sound like science fiction, but this technology to
create in-vitro meat could be changing global diets within ten years.

"Cultured meat would have a lot of advantages," said Jason Matheny of
research group New Harvest. "We could precisely control the amount of
fat in meat. We could make ground beef with an ideal fatty acid ratio
-- a hamburger that prevents heart attacks instead of causing them."

But it isn't just the possibility of creating designer ground beef
with the fat profile of salmon that drives Matheny's work. Meat and
livestock farming is also the source of many human diseases, which he
claims would be far less common when the product is raised in
laboratory conditions.

"We could reduce the risks of diseases like swine flu, avian flu, 'mad
cow disease', or contamination from Salmonella," he told CNN. "We
could produce meat in sterile conditions that are impossible in
conventional animal farms and slaughterhouses. And when we grow only
the meat we can eat, it's more efficient. There's no need to grow the
whole animal and lose 75 to 95 percent of what we feed it."

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full story:
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/08/07/eco.invitro.meat/