One man's burger is another man's... Stem Cell???

I have known for quite some time that researchers have been working on growing meat from the stem cells of animals, but I recently found this article suggesting that they have made some serious progress. You can find the article here:

One stem cell burger: $330,000



I have to admit, the idea of eating a stem cell burger kind of makes me cringe. But then again, technology has brought us so far in the agriculture industry, so I hesitate to criticize this idea. I think it is exciting that technology is allowing us to explore options such as these, but are stem cell burgers really going to be successful? I am thinking that if people have a problem with eating a GMO (genetically modified organism) crop, there is no way they are going to accept a piece of "pinkish-yellowish" meat that was grown in a petri dish.

Another question I have is about the claim that this is an alternative for people who are "concerned about the ethics of livestock production but don't want to be come a vegetarian." The article clearly states that making these stem cell burgers in the future would use animals that were killed so that the stem cells could be harvested. Maybe it's just me... but I don't quite understand how that solves any ethical issues concerned with livestock production.

It is exciting that today's advanced technology is allowing us to research avenues such as this one, but as for stem cell burgers, I think we have a long way to go before they are an economical choice (after all, the funding for the research to produce this 1/2 gram burger was $330,000). Even then, I wonder how consumers will react to seeing a stem cell burger on the grocery store shelf? Only time will tell... until then, I'll stick to my conventional home-grown burgers!