Monday, December 17, 2007

Organic...or not?

You know, I love my mama and deddy. They raised me to look out for things. I don't always know if they're serious or joking, but they talk an awful lot about how in everything there is a conspiracy against black people. So when I started mentioning the benefits of eating organic and the unknown dangers of genetically modified food, they were like, "Awww c'mon, they do anything they want and slap that green sticker on that so you'll pay more for it."

I read this article today and it really made me think about what I'm buying when I think I'm buying organic food. It gave some validity to what they were saying when the organic food boom hit and I was all over it. I'm sorry I jumped on the bandwagon, but I learned a bit about genetically modified food while in college and I must say that I am more afraid of what's in the food we eat than I am of ... just about anything else. (FYI, if you are not hip, google genetically modified food, but don't read anything by monsanto -- they make the stuff, so they wont say anything bad -- and read up.)

From my understanding --correct me if I'm wrong imaginary audience-- in the last century scientists have been making and farmers have been using genetically modified seeds that are resistant to certain organisms, insects, temperatures and any other natural distractions that could wipe out crops/their $. Some are even genetically modified to sit on the shelf in the warehouse or grocery store longer. This wouldn't be so bad if it didn't disturb the natural order of things, or if we knew exactly what these foods did to our bodies but we are the test subjects and the lab rats. There's a whole lot of money behind the politics of GMFs so we can't even get labels to us what we're eating like the European Union has. We can only hope that the food the USDA says is organic doesn't have these GMFs inside. Again, think about the ingredients of the foods we eat. That high fructose corn syrup is most likely derived from a corn stalk that in not 100% real/natural. It probably has been genetically modified.

Let's not even mention toxic sewage sludge fertilizer. Yes, I do mean $%^! all over your vegetables.

So what do ya do? Well, as soon as I can afford me a house with a backyard, or even a windowsill and a pot, I plan to grow my own food. This industry is disgusting. I went to see I am Legend this weekend and I am convinced that we're destined for some kind of scary strain of something that will be resistant to everything and wipe us all out....just wait.

2 comments:

Joseph D B Ferguson said...

I read this and I didnt want to eat lunch. But I knew that I would feel that way.

Life sucks we have to learn to be self sufficient. I don't want a house so I can live somewhere and build equity, I want a house so I can (better) control what grows in my backyard and what food is put into my body.

Unknown said...

Genetically modified food isn't dissimilar to mutations that occur in nature. The natural mechanism of adaptation will achieve a balance. The question is: will 8 billion humans be able to adapt in time? The recent honeybee crisis is a good example of this.

Regarding agricultural contamination: We can subjectively say that animal feces is disgusting and shouldn't be ingested. Objectively, we know it's just bacteria-enriched mud. Sometimes the bacteria makes us sick, sometimes it doesn't. As long as you're not getting sick, I wouldn't worry about ingesting a little mud.