Test Tube Meat?

This week in class, we discussed Chet Raymo's "A Measure of Restraint," an essay discussing the possible negative effects of the kind of blindly advancing scientific industry that exists today. He argues that what seem like advancements are often detrimental to society. After exploring this phenomenon in the context of radium and other radioactive material, he poses some chilling questions about today's food industry, alluding to the practices of transgenics and injecting hormones in order to mass-produce food items. In his musings about the relationship between science and ethics, he attempts to demonstrate that scientists and the general public should practice a "measure of restraint" in their endeavors and take into account how their discoveries and choices may affect society before they go forth with implementing their desires. 

While perusing the internet, I came upon this video explaining and promoting "in vitro meat" - something that Chet Raymo would highly disapprove of: 

So the question is, how will things change when (and I'm 99.2% sure it will) test tube meat becomes readily and widely available?  Of course, there will be many health-related qualms before it becomes socially accepted. Although (I assume) it will be identical to meat on a molecular level, people will be skeptical of its nutritional value and whether it is safe to consume. As a result, I'm sure that at least some form of the current meat industry will remain long after in vitro meat becomes popular.

Nevertheless, assuming that it is nutritionally identical to "real" meat and that it becomes widely accepted, the next issue is whether it is ethical. Yes, it would allow many to eat meat without the guilt of knowing that they have taken a life. Yes, it would probably eliminate the necessity for hormones, food, and antibiotics in sustaining the mass raising of animals. And yes, it could potentially solve the mistreatment of animals - the disturbing treatment of lives as factory products - that we saw in the video in class. Yet, there is something so "Frankenstinian" about the idea of in vitro meat that makes me cringe. Instinct dictates that there must be something wrong with anything this artificial. Imagine the ability for scientists to simulate beef, chicken, pork - even human meat. The next step for scientists naturally seems to be the creation of life, and then creation of intelligent life, and so on down this nightmarish path.

In theory, in vitro meat seems like a great fix for the rampant unethical practices of the food industry today. While I am in favor of its development and will wholly support/consume test tube meat when it becomes available to the consumer, the discoveries that its research may present as it progresses terrify me.