A strand of DNA

Here are two areas of concern to those of us that care about the source of our food. First, here’s a 26-minute video on Genetically Modified Foods: Genetically Modified Foods

John at my local food co-op gets credit for turning me on to this much longer video (nearly two hours) called The World According to Monsanto. Some interesting stuff here about how Monsanto operates, the FDA-corporate revolving door, pollution cover-ups, and all kinds of other fun times.

And finally, hat tip to Chris at Conditioning Research for this article: Once bitten …

Welcome to the world of nanofoods, where almost anything is possible: where food can be manipulated at an atomic or molecular level to taste as delicious as you want, do you as much good as you want, and stay fresh for … well, who knows? A world where smart pesticides are harmless until they reach the stomachs of destructive insects; where food manufacturers promise an end to starvation; where smart packaging sniffs out and destroys the micro-organisms that make good food go bad.

Frankly, I don’t like the idea of any tampering with the food. I don’t like the idea of genetically modified foods and I don’t like the idea of someone using nanotechnology to make my food “better”. Somehow, humans and the rest of the natural world survived with food “genetically engineered” by evolution. There are too many unknown risks with GM crops and nanotechnology to know if putting them into the body is a good idea. I’ll take the real ice cream over the stuff with microencapsulated fat molecules. Unprocessed foods will always be better than processed foods.

I think two things are very telling. First, the public is not excited about GM crops. Everywhere they go, protesters follow. Second, Monsanto, ADM, and the other agribusiness companies are not willing to have their products labeled as genetically modified. Monsanto doesn’t want milk labeled as rBGH-free. It doesn’t want soy labeled as GM, nor corn or any other foods. In a truly free market, food would be labeled as “GM”. If the public wants it or is indifferent, the GM foods will stand on their own merits, not on the force of an $8.5 billion company that wants to keep consumers from being able to control where their food comes from and what they put into their bodies. Whether GM crops and nanotechnology prove to be beneficial and safe or not, it is scary that many, from the corporations to our own politicians, will work hard to keep consumers from knowing what they are eating.

Anyone have any other thoughts?


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