Leather and meat without killing animals | Andras Forgacs

Translator: Iris Xholi Reviewer: Helena Bedalli

When my father and I started a company

Kur une dhe babai im krijuam nje kompani

to 3D print human tissues and organs,

per te printuar ne 3 dimensione inde dhe organe njerezore,

some people initially thought we were a little crazy.

ne fillim, disa njerez menduam se ishim pak te shkare.

But since then, much progress has been made,

Por, qe prej atehere eshte bere shume progres,

both in our lab and other labs around the world.

si ne laboratorin tone ashtu dhe ne laboratore te tjere ne mbare boten.

And given this, we started getting questions like,

Si rrjedhoje, filluan te na beheshin pyetje si,

"If you can grow human body parts,

"Nqse, jeni te afte te krijoni pjese te trupit njerezor,

can you also grow animal products like meat and leather?"

a jeni ne gjendje te krijoni prodhime shtazore, si mish a lekure?"

When someone first suggested this to me,

Kur dikush ma beri kete sugjerim,

quite frankly I thought they were a little crazy,

te them te drejten mendova se ishte pak i shkare,

but what I soon came to realize

por ajo cka kuptova me vone

was that this is not so crazy after all.

eshte qe kjo nuk ka asgje te keqe.

What's crazy is what we do today.

Ajo qe mund te konsiderohet e shkare eshte ajo cka bejme sot.

I'm convinced that in 30 years,

Jam i sigurt qe pas 30 vitesh,

when we look back on today

kur ta kthejme koken pas

and on how we raise and slaughter billions of animals

per te pare se si therrim miliarda kafshe

to make our hamburgers and our handbags,

per te bere hamburger ose canta,

we'll see this as being wasteful

do ta kuptojme se sa e demshme

and indeed crazy.

dhe cmenduri eshte e gjithe kjo.

Did you know that today we maintain

A e dini qe ne sot mbajme

a global herd of 60 billion animals

nje ferme globale prej 60 miliarde kafshesh

to provide our meat, dairy, eggs and leather goods?

per te na siguruar mishin, qumeshtin, vezen dhe produktet tona te lekures?

And over the next few decades,

Dhe ne dekadat qe do te vine,

as the world's population expands to 10 billion,

teksa popullsia e botes rritet ne 10 miliarde,

this will need to nearly double

kjo duhet te dyfishohet

to 100 billion animals.

pra, 100 miliarde kafshe.

But maintaining this herd

Por, mbajtja e kesaj ferme

takes a major toll on our planet.

ka pasoja te medha ne planetin tone.

Animals are not just raw materials.

Kafshet nuk jane vetem lende e pare.

They're living beings,

Ato jane qenie te gjalla,

and already our livestock

dhe qe tani bagetia jone

is one of the largest users of land,

eshte nje nga perdoruesit me te medhenj te tokes,

fresh water,

ujit te paster,

and one of the biggest producers of greenhouse gases

dhe nje nga prodhuesit me te medhenj te gazeve qe shkaktojne efektin sere

which drive climate change.

dhe ndikojne ne ndryshimet klimatike.

On top of this,

Mbi kete,

when you get so many animals so close together,

kur kemi kaq shume kafshe kaq prane njera-tjetres,

it creates a breeding ground for disease

krijohet nje ambient qe favorizon semundjet

and opportunities for harm and abuse.

si dhe mundesine per abuzime dhe lendime.

Clearly, we cannot continue on this path

Sic duket qartazi, nuk mund te vazhdohet me keshtu

which puts the environment, public health,

duke vendosur ne rrezik ambientin, shendetin publik

and food security at risk.

dhe sigurine e ushqimit.

There is another way, because essentially,

Ka nje menyre tjeter, pasi esencialisht,

animal products are just collections of tissues,

prodhimet shtazore nuk jane gje tjeter vec grumbullim indesh,

and right now we breed and raise

dhe tashme ne mbajme dhe rrisim

highly complex animals

kafshe komplekse

only to create products

vetem e vetem per te patur prodhime

that are made of relatively simple tissues.

te krijuara nga inde te thjeshta.

What if, instead of starting with a complex

Po sikur, ne vend qe te fillojme me nje kafshe

and sentient animal,

te ndjeshme dhe komplekse,

we started with what the tissues are made of,

ta nisim me indet qe i krijojne ato,

the basic unit of life,

njesine baze te jetes,

the cell?

qelizen?

This is biofabrication, where cells themselves

Kjo quhet biofabrikim, ku vete qelizat

can be used to grow biological products

mund te perdoren per rritjen e produkteve biologjike

like tissues and organs.

si indet dhe organet.

Already in medicine,

Tashme te perdorshme ne mjekesi,

biofabrication techniques have been used

teknikat e biofabrikimit jane perdorur per

to grow sophisticated body parts,

te krijuar pjese te sofistikuara te trupit njerezor,

like ears, windpipes, skin, blood vessels and bone,

si veshe, laring, lekure, ene gjaku dhe kocka,

that have been successfully implanted into patients.

te cilat jane implantuar me sukses tek pacientet.

And beyond medicine, biofabrication can be

Dhe pertej mjekesise, biofabrikimi mund te jete

a humane, sustainable and scalable new industry.

nje industri e re humane dhe e qendrueshme.

And we should begin by reimagining leather.

Kjo duhet nisur nga riimagjinimi i lekures.

I emphasize leather because it is so widely used.

Theksoj lekuren, sepse eshte kaq e perdorshme gjeresisht sot.

It is beautiful, and it has long been a part of our history.

Eshte shume e bukur dhe ka qene pjese e historise sone per kaq shume kohe.

Growing leather is also technically simpler

Te krijosh lekure eshte teknikisht me e lehte

than growing other animal products like meat.

se te krijosh produkte te tjera kafshesh si mish pershembull.

It mainly uses one cell type,

Perdoret vetem nje lloj qelize,

and it is largely two-dimensional.

dhe ne shumicen e rasteve eshte 2 dimensionale.

It is also less polarizing for consumers and regulators.

Gjithashtu, eshte me pak e polarizuar per kosumatoret dhe rregullvenesit.

Until biofabrication is better understood,

Deri ne momentin kur biofabrikimi te kuptohet me mire,

it is clear that, initially at least,

esht e qarte qe, si fillim te pakten,

more people would be willing to wear novel materials

me shume njerez do te duan te veshin materiale novatore

than would be willing to eat novel foods,

se sa do te duan te hane ushqime te tilla,

no matter how delicious.

pak rendesi ka se sa te shijshme jane keto te fundit.

In this sense, leather is a gateway material,

Ne kete kuptim, lekura eshte nje material qe sherben si rrugedalje,

a beginning for the mainstream biofabrication industry.

nje gjeneze per industrine e biofabrikimit.

If we can succeed here,

Nese mund te kemi sukses ketu,

it brings our other consumer bioproducts like meat

atehere prodhimet bio, si mishi,

closer on the horizon.

vine me prane konsumatoreve.

Now how do we do it?

Por si e bejme ne kete?

To grow leather, we begin by taking cells

Per te krijuar lekure, ne nisim duke marre qeliza

from an animal, through a simple biopsy.

nga nje kafshe, nepermjet nje biopsie te thjeshte.

The animal could be a cow,

Kafsha mund te jete nje lope,

lamb, or even something more exotic.

qingj, ose edhe dicka me ekzotike

This process does no harm,

Ky proces nuk i demton kafshet,

and Daisy the cow can live a happy life.

lopa Daisy mund te jetoje nje jete te lumtur.

We then isolate the skin cells

Hapi i dyte eshte izolimi i qelizes se lekures

and multiply them in a cell culture medium.

dhe shumimi ne nje substance te kultures qelizore.

This takes millions of cells

Kjo mban miliona qeliza

and expands them into billions.

dhe i shton ato ne miliarda.

And we then coax these cells to produce collagen,

Me vone prej tyre ne prodhojme kolagjen,

as they would naturally.

sikunder ndodh ne menyre natyrale.

This collagen is the stuff between cells.

Ky kolagjen eshte materiali qe ndodhet mes qelizave.

It's natural connective tissue.

Eshte materiali qe ngjit indet.

It's the extracellular matrix,

Eshte matriksi ekstraqelizor,

but in leather, it's the main building block.

por ne lekure, eshte blloku kryesor i ndertimit.

And what we next do is we take the cells and their collagen

Ajo qe bejme me pas, eshte te marrim qelizat dhe kolagjenin e prodhuar

and we spread them out to form sheets,

dhe i shtrojme per te krijuar tabake,

and then we layer these thin sheets on top of one another,

keto tabake i vendosim mbi njeri-tjetrin,

like phyllo pastry, to form thicker sheets,

sikunder behet me petat e bakllavase, per te formuar shtresa me te trashe,

which we then let mature.

te cilet me pas i leme qe te maturohen.

And finally, we take this multilayered skin

Ne fund, e marrim kete lekure te perbere nga shume shtresa

and through a shorter and much less chemical tanning process,

dhe e ngjyrosim nepermjet nje procesi me te shkurter e me pak kimik ,

we create leather.

per te krijuar lekure.

And so I'm very excited to show you,

Dhe, sot jam shume krenar t'ju tregoj,

for the first time,

per here te pare,

the first batch of our cultured leather,

grumbullin e pare me lekure laboratori,

fresh from the lab.

e sapo dale prej tij.

This is real, genuine leather,

Kjo eshte nje lekure e vertete,

without the animal sacrifice.

por pa qene e nevojshme te sakrifikonim kafshe.

It can have all the characteristics of leather

Ka te gjitha karakteristikat e lekures

because it is made of the same cells,

sepse eshte prodhuar nga e njejta qelize,

and better yet,

por me mire akoma,

there is no hair to remove,

nuk ka qime per te shkulur,

no scars or insect's bites,

as shenja te shkaktuara nga pickimet e insekteve,

and no waste.

dhe as humbje.

This leather can be grown in the shape of a wallet,

Kjo lekure mund te krijohet ne formen e nje kulete,

a handbag or a car seat.

nje cante ose nje sedilje makine.

It is not limited to the irregular shape of a cow

Nuk eshte e limituar nga forma e parregullt e nje lope

or an alligator.

ose e nje krokodili.

And because we make this material,

Dhe sepse ne e krijojme vete kete material,

we grow this leather from the ground up,

duke u perkujdesur per cdo aspekt,

we can control its properties in very interesting ways.

jemi te afte te kontrollojme vetite e saj ne menyra mjaft interesante.

This piece of leather

Kjo cope lekure

is a mere seven tissue layers thick,

eshte e krijuar nga shtate shtresa indesh,

and as you can see, it is nearly transparent.

dhe sikunder mund te shihni eshte thuajse transparente.

And this leather is 21 layers thick and quite opaque.

Kjo cope tjeter lekure eshte krijuar nga 21 shtresa dhe eshte mjaft opake.

You don't have that kind of fine control

Me lekuren tradicionale

with conventional leather.

nuk mund te kemi ate lloj kontrolli.

And we can tune this leather for other desirable qualities,

Dhe kjo lekure mund te amendohet edhe ne baze te disa cilesive te tjera te deshiruara,

like softness, breathability,

si butesia, frymemarrja,

durability, elasticity and even things like pattern.

fortesia, elasticiteti bile mund te krijosh dizenjo.

We can mimic nature,

Mund te imitojme natyren,

but in some ways also improve upon it.

por ne disa raste dhe ta permiresojme ate.

This type of leather can do what today's leather does,

Kjo lloj lekure mund te beje ate cka ben sot lekura tradicionale,

but with imagination, probably much more.

por me pak imagjinate, mund te beje shume me shume.

What could the future of animal products look like?

Si mund te jete e ardhmja e produkteve shtazore?

It need not look like this,

Nuk ka pse te jete keshtu,

which is actually the state of the art today.

cka ne te vertete eshte me e mira sot.

Rather, it could be much more like this.

Perkundrazi, mund te jete me teper e ketille.

Already, we have been manufacturing with cell cultures

Tashme, kemi nisur te prodhojme kultura qelizore

for thousands of years, beginning with products

per mijera vite, duke filluar me produkte si vera,

like wine, beer and yogurt.

birra dhe kosi.

And speaking of food, our cultured food has evolved,

Dhe mqse po flasim per ushqim, ushqimet e kultivuara kane evoluar,

and today we prepare cultured food

dhe sot prodhojme ushqime te kultivuara

in beautiful, sterile facilities like this.

ne fabrika te bukura dhe sterile si kjo ketu.

A brewery is essentially a bioreactor.

Nje fabrike birre nuk eshte gje tjeter vecse nje bioreaktor.

It is where cell culture takes place.

Eshte aty ku ndodh kultura qelizore.

Imagine that in this facility,

Imagjino qe ne kete fabrike,

instead of brewing beer,

ne vend te prodhimit te birres,

we were brewing leather

ne te ishim duke prodhuar lekure

or meat.

ose mish.

Imagine touring this facility,

Imagjino ta vizitoni kete fabrike

learning about how the leather or meat is cultured,

te mesoni se si prodhohet lekura a mishi,

seeing the process from beginning to end,

ta shihni procesin me syte tuaj nga fillimi ne fund,

and even trying some.

dhe pse jo te provoni pak.

It's clean, open and educational,

Eshte e paster, e hapur dhe edukative,

and this is in contrast to the hidden,

dhe kjo eshte e kunderta e atyre fermave te fshehta,

guarded and remote factories

te ruajtura me roje

where leather and meat is produced today.

ku prodhohet lekura dhe mishi sot.

Perhaps biofabrication

Ndoshta biofabrikimi

is a natural evolution of manufacturing for mankind.

eshte nje evolucion natyral i prodhimit per njerezimin.

It's environmentally responsible,

Eshte ambientalisht i pergjegjshem,

efficient and humane.

efikas dhe njerezor.

It allows us to be creative.

Na jep lirine e te qenit krijues.

We can design new materials, new products,

Mund te prodhojme materiale te reja, produkte te reja,

and new facilities.

dhe fabrika te reja.

We need to move past just killing animals

Ne duhet ta bejme pjese te se shkuares vrasjen e kafsheve,

as a resource

te trajtuara thjesht si nje burim,

to something more civilized and evolved.

te dicka me e qyteteruar dhe me e evoluar.

Perhaps we are ready for something

Ndoshta jemi gati per dicka

literally and figuratively more cultured.

me te kultivuar ne te vertete dhe ne menyre figurative.

Thank you.

Faleminderit.

(Applause)

(duartrokitje)