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September 22, 2006

Frankenfoods Are Taking Over

Due to recent discoveries about the state of my health, I have decided to go on a diet of organic foods (which I am delighted to report taste much better than standard grocery store produce). My reasoning is because of the lack of pesticides and herbicides, but I also have had concerns about genetically modified food (which, as I understand it, cannot be labeled "organic"). My father's best friend actually works in the sugar beet industry and has explained to me why we need not worry about these foods. Still, the reports are disturbing.

Deborah Rich, an olive farmer and agricultural writer for The San Francisco Chronicle, writes today about her concerns with the so-called "Frankenfoods" being engineered and served daily to nearly all Americans, who don't even realize it.

Almost all soybeans and more than half of corn grown in the U.S. is genetically engineered. These two foods are in so many processed foods that most Americans are eating them – as are our livestock and poultry. It is a vast experiment, as we literally do not know the extent of any negative effects on the human body or on the environment. We've all heard the justifications – reduced need for pesticides and herbicides, longer shelf life, and the ability to feed all the hungry people in the world. But according to Rich these benefits are not actually coming about.

The price of modified seed includes a technology fee that effectively siphons off the bulk of any additional revenue farmers might gain from reduced pest damage or decreased management costs.

Many hoped that genetically engineered crops would help the environment by cutting pesticide use. We should have known that growing crops engineered to tolerate herbicides could lead to more chemical use. A 2004 analysis funded by the Union of Concerned Scientists found that the introduction of engineered corn, soybeans and cotton caused a 122 million pound increase in pesticide use since 1996.

And because resistant crops have encouraged near constant use of one or two classes of herbicides, superweeds that withstand the chemicals have now emerged and will require ever more potent poisons to control.

Another hope was that gene tinkering would help end world hunger. But the dream of concocting drought-tolerant, insect-resistant, nutrient-dense supreme species ignores the reality of global markets already awash in food. Hunger and malnutrition result from poverty, not a lack of food in the world.

I would add to that the fact that much of the Third World's food distribution problems are directly linked to government corruption.

What is really scary is that research increasingly raises alarms, demonstrating the likelihood that our bodies might not respond well to this genetically engineered produce. Imagine that – we once had an entire ecological system in perfect balance, and even with all we know today we still seem to believe we can tweak some things here and there and nothing bad will happen. Well, we're wrong.

Among the findings: abnormal white and red blood cell counts and inflammation of the kidney in rats fed genetically engineered corn, accelerated growth of stomach and intestinal tissues of rats fed engineered potatoes, and immune responses in mice fed altered peas.

So what happens if we find out this stuff is really dangerous? Can't we just stop planting it and go back to our old seeds? Unfortunately, no.

[P]ollen from genetically engineered crops is on the move. In a recent study by the Union of Concerned Scientists, 50 percent of nonengineered corn and soybean varieties tested by one laboratory contained DNA from engineered versions. Chasing down and eliminating this freeflowing DNA from our seed supply, should the need arise, will require Herculean effort.

Not only are natural foods being polluted by genetically engineered foods, but also companies like Monsanto, which own a vast percentage of the seed industry, can remove any non-modified seed it owns from the market any time it wants to and we can't do anything about it. Could it be that someday, no matter how much we want it, there simply will not be any organic food left in the world? If so, what does that mean for people with fragile health, like me? Rather than being able to help ourselves through natural means, such as a combination of diet, exercise, and natural supplements, we will have no other options but to submit to pharmacology, with all its ugly side effects. It frankly pisses me off.

Posted by Becky at September 22, 2006 10:24 AM