The number 6 reason why we need to overhaul our agricultural system is to have a right to choose non-GMO food. This one is close kin to the last reason, Big Brother, and has been inspired by Leo’s comment that our problems will be solved once we move to manufacturing food out of chemicals and wonders why we don’t stop wasting “time and resources in the antiquated activity called agriculture?” While he may appreciate when corporations own our food, I believe the majority of us would like a choice.
As Americans we pride ourselves on our freedom of choice rarely conceptualizing how limited that choice actually is. For example: Do you have a right to choose whether you eat genetically modified crops? NO YOU DO NOT!
In corroboration with the corporations, government actually sanctions the fact that WE DO NOT KNOW.  Together they have decided most undemocratically that we don’t need to know this, despite public outrage around the world. Leo and others in that camp must really trust that Big Brother knows best, and are fine with the fact that the result of their boundless and blind trust, is that ALL of us will be left without a choice.
Why might you want to know if the foods you are eating come from genetically modified crops?
For starters they have been linked to:Â allergies, immune deficiencies, liver problems, sterilization, antibiotic resistance, a known deadly food epidemic in the 80s, and who knows how many more since that time, because without labeling GMO crops cannot be identified and therefore recognized as a source of sickness.
Why might they NOT want you to know?
For exactly the reason I just mentioned, NO LABEL, NO LIABILITY!
At present the commercialized GMO crops we are eating without realizing are corn, soy, cotton, canola (rape), promising vast and continued expansion unless WE ALL take a stand!
Consumers in Europe took a stand long ago. Americans are taking a stand now, by getting informed and refusing to purchase GMO foods. You can too, download the list at: Non-GMO Shopping Guide
For more info:
The documentary The Future of Food
Other great sources:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5d_3l2dpQqU&feature=related
http://www.theatlantic.com/food/archive/2010/04/feds-on-gmo-labeling-dont-tell-dont-ask/39452/
Comments are closed or deactivated
Mishelle
Genetically engineered foods are eaten every day in Europe. I have just spent the last four months eating that food. And they are not always labelled as such. And for every supposed ill effect of genetically altered food I can point to the many deaths caused each year by salmonella (wasn’t he the Godfather’s “hit man”), ecoli, and other bad guys hanging out in “organically” raised food.
My point is that agriculture is a very inefficient way of producing our food. Yes, it is a massive make work program for many, but it is inefficient. For starters you should understand that the largest use for our water supplies is to irrigate plants. Add industrial use and you find that less than 10% of our water supply goes to homes and of that a miniscule share to drinking. Stop agriculture and you end all problems with diminishing fresh water supplies.
Yes, give the buyer a choice. My bet is that he will choose the lower price 8 out of 10 times. And if you doubt this, just ask WalMart.
Leo,
The law is that those foods be labeled in Europe, and you are eating them there FAR less than you are here. What you need to understand is you can look all around you and see our collective health is not good. Why is this? Because you are what you eat, as grandma said. Also, the water wasted is for INDUSTRIAL agriculture, also not the solution. This is measurably changed by using rainwater and gray water on the diversified farm.
Mishelle
I can take you through any supermarket in Spain and you will find precious few items labeled as being genetically modified. However, almost every fresh vegetable and fruit from Spain’s massive production area in Alicante and Murcia has been geneticaly modified. You should also understand that the first reason for genetically modifying plants was to make them more disease resistant and thus reduce the amount of pesticides used to protect them. I am sure you will agree that reducing the use of pesticides is a primary goal of any healthy agriculture.
Sorry, our “family” farms in the USA use most of the water consumed in their areas for crop production. The problem with gray water is that it is just that, “gray.” which implies that it is recycled or contains other substances. Maybe we should label products using a these waters, “Warning, grown with contaminated water.” Such a warning would be about as pointless as one for genetically modified plants, i.e. so what, since neither practice has been proven to cause a substantiual risk to consumers.
I worked my way through college as a statistician-economist for the US Dept of Agriculture and studied agricultural economics in college. I have a fair idea of the economic structure of this part of our economy. What is abundantly clear is that no other agriculture has been so effective in producing a plentiful supply of good food. Turkey’s system is the only one that has successfullly transformend large land holdings into very efficient small farms but its output is much more limited than is ours.
Leo,
Our “family” farms account for so little of our current production it is silly to include them in any accounting of any sort at present. I am speaking of the future, and while I’m sure your education and experience is vast and glorious, you cannot on any level compare gray water with Genetically Modified Organisms, which most likely were at their infancy in research during your studies.
The reason why you are not finding those labels in Spain is because the Europeans are not importing these products from us because they are not popular!
Finally, the pesticide use for these crops has steadily increased and the science to keep up with nature is costing us on every level. And my point, WHY? We just don’t need it and there is very little benefit for the cost. We don’t need to feed the world, we are not feeding the world after decades of this practice, but we do need to feed ourselves and our neighbors better. Isn’t that a more sane place to begin again?