Scientist seeks burger investors

UPI
Jul. 14, 2006

CHARLESTON, SC, United States (UPI) -- A U.S. scientist has developed a process to grow cow cells into full-size hamburger overnight but he can`t get anyone to invest in the process.

Vladimir Mironov, a biology researcher at the Medical University of South Carolina, said the process involves taking immature cells that develop into skeletal muscles from cows -- or pigs, or chickens, or turkeys -- and fusing them to a protein that, with the help of steroids, grows into big hunks of meat, The Charleston (S.C.) Post and Courier reported.

The newspaper said the process isn`t exactly cloning, but more like cattle farming through chemistry.

The scientific procedure has been published in tissue-engineering journals, but Mironov says he can`t find any financial backers, Post and Courier says.

'In business, who pays to make a product nobody wants to buy?' Mironov asked. 'You show this technology and say, `Do you want to try the meat?` and they all say, `No.`'

But Mironov says the long-term benefits of the technology could outweigh the negative public perception.

He told the newspaper: 'It`s not Frankenstein meat. It`s like hydroponic tomatoes.'