Although I haven’t always been as religious about nutrition as I should have been, I come from a fairly health conscious home.
My family has placed a focus on alternative medicines for over a decade now, and educated themselves in the fields of herbology, reflexology and chiropractic medicine.
With rising costs in health care, and many families that cannot afford access to mainstream care, alternative forms of health care and preventative nutrition are becoming increasingly popular. However, educated “health nuts” know that finding truly healthy food sources has also become an uphill battle.
Genetically Modified Organisms, or GMO’s, have increasingly found their way into our grocery stores and pantry shelves. GMO’s have been a kitchen table conversation topic in our homes from time to time for almost a decade now, but they are relatively unheard of in middle of the road conversation.
Over the years, they have found public acceptance with the FDA’s approval, under the guise that they are able to feed the masses more efficiently and have a much more pleasant appearance and shelf life in comparison to traditional crops.
Lately however, GMO’s have been making some noise in the mainstream media, and even making their way to the popular Dr. Oz show. The truth behind GMO’s is much uglier than the fruit from the tree, so to speak. Let’s start with their origin.
Monsanto - Part 1
If I wanted light bulbs, I likely wouldn’t look to Nabisco for them, nor would I ask Michelin for guitar parts.
The idea of getting our food from Monsanto, (who gave us the dreaded Agent Orange, saccharin, aspartame and a slew of other chemicals and pesticides), never sat well with me.
Monsanto, the leader in patented genetically modified crops, was one of the manufacturers of Agent Orange in the late 60’s and early 70’s. Although Monsanto wasn’t the only company to produce Agent Orange during that time period, their military grade version of the defoliant contained up to 45% more Dioxin than other manufacturers, including Dow.
This, in effect, made them liable for about 45% of the Vietnam related lawsuits related to the health effects of Agent Orange on Vietnam Veterans. Their deadly concoction caused skin rashes, joint and limb pain, weakness, irritability, nervousness and loss of libido to enemy and allied soldiers alike.
Major Tu Duc Phang Agent Orange Victim
Vietnamese medical personnel are also aware of the cancers, liver disorders and horrible fetal deformities that are suspected to be passed on to future generations.
Monsanto is well on their way to creating a worldwide monopoly on food. Their genetically modified crops paired with their brand of Round Up pesticides eliminate weeds and insects. Even with this in mind, much of Europe and the Middle East has resisted the use of GMO’s, and some countries have banned them due to their untested and scientifically reckless nature.
A recent Wikileaks cable revealed that the US government was trying to strong-arm European governments into accepting GMO’s through retaliation. U.S. ambassador to France Craig Stapleton wrote:
“Europe is moving backwards not forwards on this issue with France playing a leading role, along with Austria, Italy and even the [European] Commission…Moving to retaliation will make clear that the current path has real costs to EU interests and could help strengthen European pro-biotech voice.”
Most of Monsanto’s patented seeds contain a "suicide gene." This means that you cannot save seed from a crop and use it again the next year. Farmers have been practicing reusing seeds since the beginning of farming. This genetic feature has given Monsanto the upper hand and caused farmers to become dependent upon purchasing additional Monsanto seeds, as well as their patented Round Up pesticides and herbicides.
Those who try to grow organic or unmodified seed have had their crops overtaken by Monsanto crops. When pollination takes place, the dominant DNA of Monsanto crops shares its traits with the organic crops, including the suicide gene, and essentially transforms traditional crops into Monsanto crops. In many cases, farmers have reported being harassed and threatened by Monsanto for allegedly reseeding or using Monsanto seeds without a contract.
If this isn’t a hard enough hit to a struggling farmer trying to maintain some integrity, Monsanto also has teams of “police” that routinely test crops. If you are found to be growing a Monsanto crop without having purchased their seed, you will be sued into bankruptcy by Monsanto’s dream team of lawyers. There were several instances of this in the US, but South American farmers have also been hit extremely hard by this harsh reality as well.
In my next segment regarding Monsanto, I will go a little further into the history and research of how the US government has become involved with Monsanto’s agenda.
In a world where corporations are not supposed to have monopolies, Monsanto has poised itself to dominate the food industry. This position is potentially more of an national security threat than any nuclear crisis or threat of war.
If someone can control food, they can control the entire population. We should contemplate the ethics of patenting seeds in the first place. Can we responsibly genetically modify seed, unleash it onto this planet and believe there will be no negative effect to releasing a suicide gene onto Mother Nature? At this point, only time will tell.
References:
- http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/genetically-modified-foods-pt-1
- http://www.care2.com/news/member/471046224/1155574
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent_Orange
Jim Melvin is a musician, a Chef and is also a self-termed “Politically loaded, independent conspiracy theorist.” Jim plays for the politically loaded Royal Kush Band. Jim has 23 post(s) at Top Secret Writers
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