The Future of Food
The recent movie Food Inc. is getting a lot of great press. However, an older movie focusing on GMOs in food is an absolute must see for those interesting understanding how the patent process is misused by agricultural companies. Monstanto, one of the worst companies on the planet, is showcased yet again for its atrocious behavior and utter misuse of the legal system to crush farmers and maximize their own profits. The movie also describes how both monoculture agriculture as well as genetic modification is putting us all at severe risk. However, all of this is supported by biotech private public partnerships at universities. Universities don’t even perform research on the risks anymore because they have been bought off with funding. The discrepancy is amazing. For research that looks into the risks of GMO crops, at one lab at Berkley, there was $2000 in funding. Meanwhile, reseach on GMO at Berkley that was seen as promotional got $25 million in funding. Some interesting facts from the movie:
- 80% of the seeds are provided by just 4 seed companies – which are also herbicide companies.
- Biotech companies have a full propaganda offensive of which the Council
for Biotechnology is one. They have created a coloring book for
children to get them to think that GMOs are good for them. - The large feed companies have developed seeds with terminator genes. These seeds only last one generation and are then sterile. If these seeds cross fertilize with other plants, which they will, they will kill the naturally occuring seeds.
- GMO don’t even have to be labeled, even though 85% of the US population is in favor of GMO labeling.
- Corporations are fighting labeling because they know that GMOs have side effects, and they do not want the trace-ability to their food. A database of labels would create liability for corporations.
- In Europe, all genetically engineered food must be labeled.
Notice the quote by Phil Angell, Director of Corporate Communications – Monstanto
Monstanto should not have to vouchsafe the safety of biotech food, our interest is in selling as much as possible. Assuring its safety is the FDA’s job.
However, Monstanto executives have a revolving door with the FDA and are extremely effective and stopping any testing at the FDA. Monsanto is speaking out of both sides of its mouth on this topic.
Recommended Sources in this Area
What we learned is that the FDA has been bought off by the industry. The EPA which oversees insecticides is also on board with GMOs. Since universities can not be trusted on this topic due to its funding, the one source that seems reliable in this area is The Center for Food Safety. We spent some time going through the site and were impressed.
To see the film site, goto this link
http://www.thefutureoffood.com/
