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The most remixed reel ever from my material here on Hormone Specialist is a reel we posted a year ago that started with Bill Gates' statement in 2021 that "All rich countries should move to 100% synthetic beef." So, I thought you might like an update on how that's working out for Bill. It looks like lab-grown meat, once the darling of venture capitalists has fallen out of financial favor. Investment in the industry dropped from $922M in 2022 to $226M in 2023. And finances aren't their only problem. Florida and Alabama both passed laws banning cultivated meat, and Iowa, Arizona, and Tennessee are moving in that direction. Apparently the $10M of your money the USDA gave the industry to address consumer acceptance was not enough. Innovator, Upside Foods, one of two companies approved to sell cultivated chicken in the US, has laid off 25% of it's employees this year. They're going to abandon making fake breasts and focus on nuggets, ground meat, and pate. Craveworthy though they may be, the real thing is always better, guys. SciFi Foods announced in June, just last month, that they're shutting down for lack of funding. Israeli startup Aleph Farms laid off 30% of it's workforce this year. I can't deny I'm a little giddy that the synthetic meat industry is struggling to get financial traction. But if the technology revolution has taught us anything, innovation will eventually find a way to drop costs if the market's big enough. Then we find ourselves face to face with that great dilemma statement of progress: "Just because we can, doesn't mean we shouId." Be sure and catch my next reel to see what one of the top startups does to their cells. This is what scares me.