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Nebraska lawmakers gave first-round approval Monday to a bill prohibiting the manufacture, sale or distribution of lab-grown meat products across the state. The bill (LB246) from Sen. Barry DeKay of Niobrara, which advanced on a 33-4 vote on Day 53 of the 90-day legislative session, would ban "cultivated-protein food products" from being sold in Nebraska grocery stores and restaurants.
DeKay Brought on behalf of Gov. Jim Pillen, who named it one of his legislative priorities for 2025, DeKay said LB246 was not about barring a food product that could potentially compete with Nebraska agricultural products. Lab-grown meat products are not currently commercially available in Nebraska, several agricultural and grocery advocacy groups have said.
Nor is there currently a way to manufacture cultured-protein food products at scale. People are also reading..
. Thirty-three senators supported a bill (LB246) from Sen. Barry DeKay of Niobrara that would ban "cultivated-protein food products" from being made or sold in Nebraska.
DeKay said he wanted to protect consumers from "lab-grown meat" until it was proven safe. Voting yes (33): Andersen, Arch, Armendariz, Ballard, Bosn, Bostar, Brandt, Clements, Clouse, DeKay, Dorn, Dover, Guereca, Hallstrom, Hardin, Holdcroft, Hughes, Jacobson, Kauth, Lippincott, Lonowski, McKeon, Meyer, Moser, Murman, Prokop, Sanders, Sorrentino, Storer, Storm, Strommen, von Gillern, Wordekemper. Voting no (15): Conrad, Hunt, Juarez, Raybould.
Present, not voting (12): J. Cavanaugh, M. Cavanaugh, DeBoer, Dungan, Fredrickson, Hansen, Ibach, McKinney, Quick, Riepe, Rountree, Spivey.
Still, DeKay said his bill intends to erect guardrails "until or unless there are clear labeling and marketing rules that adequately disclose that cultured meat is not real," and not allow those products to capitalize on the success of naturally-raised products. "Meat itself allows synthetic meat protein products to unfairly benefit from industry investments in marketing and production," said DeKay, the Agricultural Committee chairman. "We need not fear competition, but we want the competition to be fair and honest.
" Senators, both those intimately involved in agriculture from rural areas of Nebraska as well as a handful from urban areas, said they supported the effort to ban "cultured-protein food products" in Nebraska until more was known about them. Omaha Sen. Kathleen Kauth said she was initially skeptical about a wholesale ban on a product until she began reading more about those products and how they are made.
Lab-grown meat products are typically derived from taking cells from a living animal or fertilized egg and fertilizing them in steel tanks. Kauth said the chemicals used to culture those protein cells have been linked with certain adverse health effects, which she said could hurt consumers. "Right now, there are not studies on this," Kauth said.
"There's nothing saying that all of these chemicals aren't going to hurt people." Sen. Tanya Storer of Whitman, whose Sandhills district is one of the top cattle-producing areas in the country, said the regulation of lab-grown meat products is in its early stages.
Tanya Storer Nebraska should ban lab-grown protein products until consumers can be assured of its safety, Storer said. At that point, a future Legislature could lift the ban if warranted, she added, rather than allow Nebraskans "to be the guinea pigs." "I am not willing to take that approach," Storer said.
"I don't think that's responsible, I don't think that's scared either. We're not scared of that product; I think it's called responsibility." Opponents of DeKay's bill called it an unnecessary intrusion that would stymie research, innovation and economic development opportunities across the state.
They also said that as the Legislature races into the back half of its long session there were more pressing issues for lawmakers to take up. "This is not an issue that Nebraskans are crying out for us to address," said Lincoln Sen. Danielle Conrad.
"This is not an issue Nebraska ag groups are crying out for us to address. If anything, they're asking that we would take this up with a truth-in-labeling approach, not a restrictive, punitive ban." Conrad The labeling approach Conrad and others referred to was a bill (LB658) from Sen.
Bob Andersen of La Vista requiring lab-grown products to be clearly labeled when they appear in stores. The Agriculture Committee advanced Andersen's bill on a 8-0 vote but it has not yet been scheduled for debate. Conrad, in a back and forth with DeKay during floor debate, said the Legislature would be better served in curbing cigarettes and alcohol, as well as tackling the state's nitrate problems if it was concerned about health outcomes for Nebraskans.
"If your primary concern is regarding Nebraska consumers' health with these particular products, if we have a ban in place, don't we prevent any sort of research and development that could address potential health effects?" Conrad asked. Omaha Sen. Megan Hunt called LB246 "a big government, nanny-state, reactionary policy" brought by Pillen that limited opportunities for Nebraskans in the future.
Hunt "We're talking about banning innovation before it even has a chance to compete in the workplace," Hunt said. "That should raise red flags for any Nebraskan, especially in America's breadbasket, in the place that feeds the rest of the world." Hunt said the development of a new food product in a state with expertise like that of researchers at the University of Nebraska could have created jobs up and down the supply chain.
"This bill doesn't solve a real problem," she said. "It doesn't address food safety, it doesn't protect ranchers from unfair competition and it certainly doesn't stop companies from selling plant-based or lab-based products across state lines. "All it does is make Nebraska look hostile to innovation and closed off to emerging industries," Hunt added.
DeKay's bill, which was designated an Agriculture Committee priority this year, easily advanced to the second round of debate after about 2 hours of discussion on Monday. Pillen called the vote "a major victory for Nebraska agriculture" and thanked DeKay for leading the charge. "The creation of this bioreactor meat is simply a dishonest attack on producers in our state — and has no place on Nebraska's grocery shelves," Pillen said in a statement.
The Legislature will reconvene for all-day floor debate Tuesday. Download the new Journal Star News Mobile App Meet Nebraska state senators making laws in 2025 District 49 Bob Andersen Omaha Elected 2024 402-471-2725 [email protected].
gov District 14 John Arch La Vista Elected 2018, 2022 402-471-2730 [email protected] District 18 Christy Armendariz Omaha Elected 2022 402-471-2618 carmendariz@leg.
ne.gov District 21 Beau Ballard Lincoln Appointed 2023, elected 2024 402-471-2673 [email protected].
gov District 25 Carolyn Bosn Lincoln Appointed 2023, elected 2024 402-471-2731 [email protected] District 29 Eliot Bostar Lincoln Elected 2020, 2024 402-471-2734 ebostar@leg.
ne.gov District 32 Tom Brandt Plymouth Elected 2018, 2022 402-471-2711 [email protected].
gov District 9 John Cavanaugh Omaha Elected 2020, 2024 402-471-2723 [email protected] District 6 Machaela Cavanaugh Omaha Elected 2018, 2022 402-471-2714 mcavanaugh@leg.
ne.gov District 2 Robert Clements Elmwood Appt. 2017, elected 2018, 2022 402-471-2613 rclements@leg.
ne.gov District 37 Stanley Clouse Kearney Elected 2024 402-471-2726 [email protected].
gov District 46 Danielle Conrad Lincoln Elected 2022 402-471-2720 [email protected] District 10 Wendy DeBoer Bennington Elected 2018, 2022 402-471-2718 wdeboer@leg.
ne.gov District 40 Barry DeKay Niobrara Elected 2022 402-471-2801 [email protected].
gov District 30 Myron Dorn Adams Elected 2018, 2022 402-471-2620 [email protected] District 19 Robert Dover Norfolk Appointed 2022, elected 2024 402-471-2929 rdover@leg.
ne.gov District 26 George Dungan Lincoln Elected 2022 402-471-2610 [email protected].
gov District 20 John Fredrickson Omaha Elected 2022 402-471-2622 [email protected] District 7 Dunixi Guereca Omaha Elected 2024 402-471-2721 dguereca@leg.
ne.gov District 1 Bob Hallstrom Syracuse Elected 2024 402-471-2733 [email protected].
gov District 16 Ben Hansen Blair Elected 2018, 2022 402-471-2728 [email protected] District 48 Brian Hardin Gering Elected 2022 402-471-2802 bhardin@leg.
ne.gov District 36 Rick Holdcroft Bellevue Elected 2022 402-471-2642 [email protected].
gov District 24 Jana Hughes Seward Elected 2022 402-471-2756 [email protected] District 8 Megan Hunt Omaha Elected 2018, 2022 402-471-2722 mhunt@leg.
ne.gov District 44 Teresa Ibach Sumner Elected 2022 402-471-2805 [email protected].
gov District 42 Mike Jacobson North Platte Appt. 2022, elected 2022 402-471-2729 [email protected].
gov District 5 Margo Juarez Omaha Elected 2024 402-471-2710 [email protected] District 31 Kathleen Kauth Omaha Appt.
2022, elected 2022, 2024 402-471-2327 [email protected] District 34 Loren Lippincott Central City Elected 2022 402-471-2630 llippincott@leg.
ne.gov District 33 Dan Lonowski Hastings Elected 2024 402-471-2712 [email protected].
gov District 41 Dan McKeon Amherst Elected 2024 402-471-2885 [email protected] District 11 Terrell McKinney Omaha Elected 2020, 2024 402-471-2612 tmckinney@leg.
ne.gov District 17 Glen Meyer Pender Elected 2024 402-471-2716 [email protected].
gov District 22 Mike Moser Columbus Elected 2018, 2022 402-471-2715 [email protected] District 38 Dave Murman Glenvil Elected 2018, 2022 402-471-2732 dmurman@leg.
ne.gov District 27 Jason Prokop Lincoln Elected 2024 402-471-2632 [email protected].
gov District 35 Dan Quick Grand Island Elected 2024 402-471-2617 [email protected] District 28 Jane Raybould Lincoln Elected 2022 402-471-2633 jraybould@leg.
ne.gov District 12 Merv Riepe Ralston Elected 2022 402-471-2623 [email protected].
gov District 3 Victor Rountree Bellevue Elected 2024 402-471-2627 [email protected] District 45 Rita Sanders Bellevue Elected 2020, 2024 402-471-2615 rsanders@leg.
ne.gov District 39 Tony Sorrentino Elkhorn Elected 2024 402-471-2885 [email protected].
gov District 13 Ashlei Spivey Omaha Elected 2024 402-471-2727 [email protected] District 43 Tanya Storer Whitman Elected 2024 402-471-2628 tstorer@leg.
ne.gov District 23 Jared Storm David City Elected 2024 402-471-2719 [email protected].
gov District 47 Paul Strommen Sidney Elected 2024 402-471-2616 [email protected] District 4 R.
Brad von Gillern Elkhorn Elected 2022 402-471-2621 [email protected] District 15 Dave Wordekemper Fremont Elected 2024 402-471-2625 dwordekemper@leg.
ne.gov Reach the writer at 402-473-7120 or [email protected] .
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