Few health topics are more hotly debated than the GM food issue and for good reason. And it’s not just consumers demanding action on GM food, many scientists are very concerned too. Many feel GM foods are a time-bomb just waiting to go BANG. And God help us if it does.
In 2002, the Government of Zambia rejected an aid shipment because it contained GM corn. Seems you can’t even give the stuff away! This would be hilarious if it weren’t such a serious subject and lives weren’t at stake.
Do you really want scorpion genes in your corn? GM food is just one aspect of an increasing bleak picture of modern farming based on high yields and profits. The Biotech companies such as Monsanto developing GM foods aren’t doing it for the love of it is my guess.
The scorpion toxin gene put into corn and oilseed rape allows the plant make its own pesticide. Caterpillars eating this corn die of the toxin. Unfortunate for the beneficial pest predator — the lacewing caterpillar which has been found to be more likely to die after eating the poisoned caterpillars. And what happens when pests become resistant to the in-bred toxin?
Of course it doesn’t stop there. Genetic experiments are being carried out all over the world. Frog genes have been put into potatoes to help them resist infection. Human genes have been put into pigs and fish to make them grow faster. Pigs are also being bio-engineered to provide organs for transplanting into humans costing thousands. The list goes on and on and on.
Monsanto is heading up the biotechnological revolution. The very word ‘Monsanto’ plays that scary music from the Omen in my head! They created Agent Orange used in the Vietnam war did you know? Among other things, they’ve developed ’round-up ready soy’ which is resistant to their own herbicide ’round-up’. So, farmers can now destroy all plant-life on a field except the soy. The impact on wildlife is disastrous. This is a nightmare vision of mono culture…. a landscape of human crops devoid of all other life. Nice.
Whilst these companies can spin their compassionate message of how they are helping poor people with their products, the truth is that third world farmers are getting locked into deals with the powerful companies. Once they’re in, they can’t get out. Some aid organisations have spoken out against the claims of these companies. In fact, Christian Aid has reported a massive problem of suicides among Indian farmers with spiralling debt problems.
It’s truly frightening to me the lengths that some organisations will go to in the name of profit. And the justifications… among others, feeding an ever growing population with limited arable land… oh please! It’s easy to be swayed by the spin of those with vested interests and the stories of how GM is helping but don’t buy into their ridiculous humanitarian justifications. Their motivation is commercial.
Have you heard of “The Terminator Gene”? Unbelievably, crops are purposely being developed that don’t produce viable seeds. This prevents farmers using the traditional methods of saving some seed for next years sowing. How is this ‘helping’ feed the world!? Folks really wanting to help feed the world would be pushing with all their might for sustainable farming or looking for ways to reduce the population or even joining real aid organisations of which there are many. In any case, starving populations are about governments, politics and distribution, not actual lack of food.
Just like many health issues, once you start looking into it things can seem very complex. It’s easy to be blinded by the arguments and forget the core flaw. I have a deep sense in me that this whole GM thing is just plain wrong. It’s another case of us messing with nature and we just cannot know the long term consequences. Once GM foods contaminate non GM crops, it’s irreversible. I think we need to be very careful when thinking about how attractive the supposed benefits seem to be of GM food. We must find other ways. Playing God is not a good option.
How can we possibly say what the long term effect of this technology is?
In some countries it’s not even mandatory to label food as containing GM foods. Also it’s perfectly legal to feed farm animals GM foods. Did you know that about 60% of all processed food products contain GM foods? Lower prices for buyers makes it attractive for manufacturers to use GM in their products. After all, their products have to compete on price in a highly competitive marketplace. By choosing low price over quality, we send a message to manufacturers that lowest price wins.
So, who cares about GM foods? I think everyone should care because it affects us all. Let’s put the brakes on this technology before the GM time-bomb blows up in our faces.
What we need is a way out of the pesticide using, God playing nightmare. Well there is a way, it’s called ‘Organic Sustainable Farming’. It’s the way all farming was but a few decades ago before the ‘-ides’ came in… herbicides, pesticides and fungicides.
It costs more to produce high quality food in this way, with organic fertilisers and using organic pest control but it’s a price we absolutely must pay. We must demand organic. The number one way you can help farming to be sustainable and help yourself is to buy organic. Vote with your £$. Supporting organic farming has so many benefits;
This sends the strongest possible consumer message. Apart from that, write to your political representative and make some noise about GM.
This article is completely biased and opinionated as I believe strongly that GM is plain wrong. So if you believe anything in this article is incorrect or have an alternative viewpoint, please leave a comment below. Thank you.
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