Whoever controls the seeds, controls the food.

While eliminating industrialized meet in your diet is one way to do the earth a favor, avoiding industrialized farming is even better. I recently ran across the film The Future of Food, an eye opening film about GMO's (genetically manufactured organisms), seed patents, food politics and how this effects human health.

In an attempt to help spread awareness, I am going to attempt to paraphrase some of the films high points.

In 1978 the first living organism was taken to the United States Patent office by General Electric. The organism was an oil eating microbe that was promised to help in a crisis such as an oil spill. The US Patent office rejected the idea of patenting the living organism on moral grounds. That had been their stance on the patenting of life for over 200 years.

General Electric, not satisfied with the results went to the Supreme Court and sued the US Patent Office. The Supreme Court heard the case and voted in favor of GE by one vote. The microbe was never used, as it was found to have an appetite for more than just oil and dangerous to the environment. However, the court case changed the patent law forever.

During the Regan administration the patenting of life went into over drive with companies patenting animals, human genes and even human body parts. During the economic struggles of the 1990's, the pesticide industry began to bail out and purchase seed companies and seeds. Whether they were genetically modified or not seeds were being patented by the 1000's. Monsanto, today North America's largest seed and pesticide corporation, spent 8 billion dollars during this time purchasing seed companies and patenting over 11,000 variations of seeds. As an added fyi; the people of the United States and Congress have never been given the chance to vote on whether or not to allow the patenting of life.



So what's wrong with patents and GMO's? Well the picture and title should give you a clue, but to explain further....

If a seed is patented, it can not be sold by anyone but the one who owns the patent. A farmer can not grow a crop of canola, harvest, save the seeds and sell the seeds to his neighboring farmers. That's the first trick.

The second half of it is the GMO. Scientist have the ability to genetically alter the behaviors of plants, fruits, vegetables, and so on. One example is the flounder (yes the fish) gene being mixed with the common tomato so that the tomato can live longer in colder temperatures. Scientist have made it possible to shut down the natural reproductive qualities of seeds and plants. They have been nicknamed "suicide seeds". Every year, a farmer has to purchase seed and to top that off, whatever brand of seed you buy must be fertilized and protected via pesticides by the same brand of chemicals.

What's wrong with Genetically Modified products in our food system? Who knows, really. At the University of California one professor has started a program to study the importance of diversification within plant life with a budget of 2K per year. That's 2K against the more than 26 million spent a year on GMO testing and research. In fact, some studies that have proved the harmful effects of GMO's in our food supply have been suspended, like the one that proved depressed immune systems in rats. In 2001, a public interest group revealed the harmful effects of Starlink's GMO corn product and had millions of dollars of taco shells and corn chips pulled off the shelves, unfortunately not in time to prevent a health scare. Dr. John Losey at Cornell University found that 40% of his butterflies died that were fed GMO corn pollen. Surprisingly, he still has a job. Many have been fired for much less.

We can expect nothing but the unexpected with genetically modified foods. To genetically modify a living organism requires a cell invasion. Invasion by viruses or bacteria must occur for the gene to accept the new particle. Once that particle is put in, antibiotics must be used to protect the mutation. So food pumped full of viruses, bacteria and antibiotics. Doesn't sound healthy to me.

But don't expect the FDA to protect your health. GMO's are classified as GRAS (generally recognized as safe) and not in need of testing by law. In the United States, food manufactures are not required to label food as being genetically modified. In 1999 the "Genetically Engineered Food Right to Know Act" was introduced to the House, but we have yet to vote on it. In Europe, the people were given the chance to vote. 75% voted against GMO's and for labeling. Today 15 European nations have enacted a similar "Right to Know Act" and while GMO's still exist in their super markets, the people have the option to purchase them or not. Thank goodness public interest groups have public health in mind.

I always thought industrialized farming was hazardous to human health, but I had no idea how politically involved it was. I could go on for a long time, but you could always watch the movie for yourself. It's available on hulu here.