Florida lawmakers are moving to ban Bill Gates' counterfeit meat products in the state due to overwhelming evidence that lab-grown meat causes cancer.
Following the adoption of the new law, any company or individual found producing or selling fake meat will be subject to criminal prosecution.
However, state legislators believe that a complete ban on cultured meat is unlikely to last forever.
In their opinion, it will be at least five years before this meat can become available after the law is changed or repealed.
Critics of the law say it would stifle Florida's growing biotech industry and banning the product entirely would be a mistake. They include the largest lobbyist, the North American Meat Industry Institute.
Critics also point out that the USDA has already approved consumption of the product.
In response to their negative arguments, Republican Senator Jay Collins pointed out that Florida has reason to be more cautious than the federal government has shown.
At the same time, the introduction of prohibitive regulations was supported by traditional agriculture, including the Florida Cattlemen's Association.
Now in the United States, laboratory-grown meat is sold in only two restaurants: in San Francisco and in Washington.
Meanwhile, research continues at American universities on the topic of production of biomass, represented as meat.
There is no prohibition on this subject in American legislation.