Understanding our Connection to Food
It is frightening to me that so many people do not understand where their food is coming from. They never question whether their food is safe. They trust in a government who openly employs executives from big business. Like yesterdays (July 8, 2009) news when the FDA announced that Michael Taylor, a former Monsanto executive was hired on to:
- Assess current food program challenges and opportunities
- Identify capacity needs and regulatory priorities
- Develop plans for allocating fiscal year 2010 resources
- Develop the FDA’s budget request for fiscal year 2011
- Plan implementation of new food safety legislation
Are you kidding me! A former Monsanto employee is going to implement “new food safety legislation”!
The Center for Food Safety reports…
“…biotechnologists have engineered numerous novel creations, such as potatoes with bacteria genes, “super” pigs with human growth genes, fish with cattle growth genes, tomatoes with flounder genes, and thousands of other plants, animals and insects. At an alarming rate, these creations are now being patented and released into the environment.
Currently, up to 40 percent of U.S. corn is genetically engineered as is 80 percent of soybeans. It has been estimated that upwards of 60 percent of processed foods on supermarket shelves–from soda to soup, crackers to condiments–contain genetically engineered ingredients.
A number of studies over the past decade have revealed that genetically engineered foods can pose serious risks to humans, domesticated animals, wildlife and the environment. Human health effects can include higher risks of toxicity, allergenicity, antibiotic resistance, immune-suppression and cancer. As for environmental impacts, the use of genetic engineering in agriculture will lead to uncontrolled biological pollution, threatening numerous microbial, plant and animal species with extinction, and the potential contamination of all non-genetically engineered life forms with novel and possibly hazardous genetic material.
Despite these long-term and wide-ranging risks, Congress has yet to pass a single law intended to manage them responsibly.“
Seed is the Origin of Food
Big business figured out along time ago that if you want to control food you must first start with seed. Take a look at the top ten seed companies as reported in this document.