This may also lead to an increase in meat in the world diet and a decrease in mass raising and slaughter of live animals. Many vegetarians and vegans refuse to eat meat out of a desire to avoid harming other living creatures, or out of protest of the livestock farming conditions. Should this technology advance to the point that lab-grown cells are a viable source of meat, such complaints would be rendered moot. Even outside of the "print your own bacon" technology, simply the ability to grow and assemble cells into different foods without needing to slaughter animals to do so will be a massive boon for the meat industry. It'll probably radically change how farmland is appropriated (no need to have massive farms raising and slaughtering cattle and chickens by the thousand if technology lets you manufacture the meat for the same or a lower price), as well as world economies (if lab-grown food is the same price or cheaper than "real meat", massive agricultural raising of livestock will become less viable and companies that have a heavy hand in the production, like the McDonalds Corporation, would need to switch to this alternative meat production source or buy it from producers).