Genetically Modified Food

See the trailer here

The Future of Food is the latest movie I've watched on Netflix, and it's another eye-opener.  With a brief explanation in layman's terms of the genetic engineering involved, and a list of political figureheads who run the corporations they're supposed to be overseeing, it was reminiscent of Food, Inc, but much scarier.

There are a bunch of issues at hand here.  There's the first question that comes to mind, which is whether or not it is safe to splice genes of differing species (and often kingdoms!) together and then eat the resulting organism.  I don't think there's enough information out there to say whether or not this is safe, and until then I'd like to err on the safe side.  In fact, since we consume so much genetically modified foods in the U.S., other countries are watching us like guinea pigs to see how our children will fare.

But more imminently concerning to me is the hostile takeover of our food system via patenting by one major corporation.  Monsanto, the devil incorporated, is waging war on the small and not-so-small farmers and holding them hostage while extorting money from them.  And then binding them with gag orders to be sure the story doesn't get out too much.  Think that's bad?  Apparently, with our current patent laws, you don't have to invent an organism to patent it.  In other words, any plant (or animal, etc) that doesn't have a patent can be taken by anyone down to the patent office and become private property.  First come, first served.  Why is this bad?  Because patent law in the U.S. and around the world supports these corporations, and if ever you are found in possession of any of their genetic material without paying for it, you're a thief.

It gets worse.

They, the big M, are patenting local varieties of food plants in third world countries and attempting to force the indigenous subsistence farmers to pay Monsanto for the right to farm their own food.   Anyone who says organic/sustainable farming can't feed the world needs to open his eyes and look at the reasons people around the world don't have food.  It's not for lack of land or labor.  It is to fill the pockets of the ones in power.

This means, and has been established by precedent in a court of law, that if I endeavor to grow my own non-GMO corn on my own little acre, and purposely avoid Monsanto, and then later am found to have this product on my land (via cross pollination or any other means), I will be found to have infringed on the patent they own and will be held accountable.  My corn will be their property.

To use an example from the movie, what do you think about this:  Say you're growing a field of peas.  Say I decide to go out and buy some cows, because I'd like to raise them for beef.  Say I don't do anything to contain them.  Instead, I just bring them home, and put out a water trough, and go inside and watch some TV.  Now, you look out your kitchen window and notice my new cows stomping through your peas, eating them all up.  They are delicious, after all.  Who owns the cows, now?  According to Monsanto, I do.   And who owns the peas?  According to Monsanto and the American legal system, I do.  Who makes restitution to whom?  You, of course, owe me, because you allowed my cows on your land.  Shame on you.  Now please destroy the rest of your peas before you get more of my cows over there.  And give me some money, too.

Right about now I can hear the clammoring of the American people for the government to DO SOMETHING.  Stop the evil corporations, because clearly they make profits and stomp on the little man, and that's evil.

But, wait.  Let's stop and examine how all this came to happen.  Did we have a free market in which the crops were grown to feed the demand of the consumer?  Was the justice system blind to the profit potential of the laws it made and enforced?  When it was decided that regulation would be appropriate, were there inspectors to oversee these corporations who did not stand to profit from looking the other way?

No.
No.
No.

The crops we grow are subsidized.  The lawmakers are executives of the corporations that make the seed, the fertilizers, the herbicides and pesticides, the equipment, the animals, the feed, the processing equipment for the crops and animals.  The regulation is on paper, but the inspections are not happening, and when they do happen, they favor the large corporation that already owns everything (including the justice system).

I want to stop here and go back through with citations for every little thing I just said.  But it's late and I'm lazy right now, so I'll just say watch the movie.  I, for one, will be looking for ways to avoid GMO foods at all costs, and we'll not be feeding it to our livestock when we get our operation going.  The easiest way to do this is to avoid buying anything with a barcode.  When you know your farmer and can look him in the eye and ask where he gets his seed and how he raises his meat, you can be sure of what you're getting, and you won't get that in almost any store.