‘In defence of health, of the Italian production system, of thousands of jobs, of our culture and tradition, with the law approved today, Italy is the first nation in the world to be safe from the social and economic risks of synthetic food,’

Health? Yeah, get back to me the next time there's an outbreak of mad cow disease, swine flu, or bird flu and say that to my face.

Jobs? The synthetic meat isn't going to make itself, and there will always be a market for "organic" meat in any case.

Tradition? The human race's oldest and most persistent fallacy. The democracy of the dead.

This is shortsighted. This guys sounds exactly like the idiot lawmakers here in America who said solar panels and electric cars will never catch on, so what's the point in investing in them now?