i have finally watched a netflix movie again! last night we did grocery shopping for thanksgiving and then watched "the future of food". hmm, maybe we should've watched this before going to the supermarket! seriously, this film is for anyone that eats food. the film concentrates on the past 100 years of food production in the usa but the story being told is important to all humans. the subject of the documentary is genetically engineered food (AKA genetically modified organisms). awareness of this topic is growing and the general consensus seems to be that ge/gmo is bad and organic is good but we really know why and what it means when food is ge/gmo? what i knew barely scratched the surface.

the documentary gives that little history of food and poses questions about the future and offers a look at the alternatives out there. essentially what has happened is that after the industrial revolution, an agricultural revolution took place. for better or for worse, the methods of food production has changed. big businesses and the government control what goes on our plates these days. in more recent years (my lifetime) is when the most radical changes have occured due to the change in what can be patented. now life can be patented. before seeds could not be patented but now they can. even breast cancer is patented! you read that right. the film mentioned some companies are going into research labs working on cures and suing them for using their patented breast cancer.

pesticide corporations have bought out seed companies and are rushing to patent every seed out there, both ge/gmo and non-ge/gmo. (convieniently, some of these seeds they sell have pesticides builts right in. they just need to be activated. some seeds do not reproduce either. they only last for one lifecycle.) as the companies sell more and more seeds, those farmers that do not purchase these seeds are experiencing crop contamination. wind blows, birds fly, and plant sex happens. this is basic biology. the corporations go around testing farms and if they find their patents present, they sue the farmers and win or settle out of court. the courts are ruling that it is the farmer's responsibility to keep out contaminants. they don't care how the contamination happened. have you ever tried to stop the wind from blowing? have you ever tried to keep out dust? imagine trying to keep out seeds. it just takes a few. one doesn't even know if a crop has been contaminated until it has been tested.

the top people in these corporations also hold government offices in agricultural positions. actually, they go back and forth between jobs and of course other politicians receive compaign contributions from these corporations. in addition to this non-sense, there are several crops vital to our current ways of life that are being subsitized by the government. basically, it costs more for the farmer to raise the crop than they can sell it for so the government pays them the difference. (i.e., whether you agree with all this or not, your tax money is supporting this system) this should make you ethically vomit.

it comes down to this: as ge/gmo agriculture spreads, we are losing biodiversity. in the past 100 years or so, we have already lost many species of edible foods. 1000s perhaps. i didn't write down notes during the film and i don't think they mentioned a specific number. i just remember hearing that at the end of the 19th century/early 20th century, america grew 7000 varieties of apples, 6000 varieties of potatoes, etc. and now there are only about 4 of each commonly found in supermarkets. even if you don't want to try all that food in your lifetime think about what losing species does to the ecosystem. the insects that rely on certain plants, the birds that rely on those insects, etc.

maybe you don't give a shit about other animals, just yourself. some species of foods are good in certain climates, others not so good. what happens when there is a natural disaster such as drought or plant disease? if there are say 10 kinds instead of 1000 kinds of a plant and a disaster hits, will you be one of the lucky few who continue to somehow find food and survive? what goes on in the usa doesn't stay within the usa. our products are sold elsewhere and contamination has occured in even remote regions. the film noted of such a case in mexico, not on the border either. the film also noted that a lot of 3rd world hunger issues is not the inability to produce enough food, rather that food is being overproduced. the 3rd world farmers cannot compete in the global marketplace and become homeless. maybe you live in the first world and don't give a fuck about what happens in the 3rd world. fine. let's think about your rich ass for a moment.

what is the benefit of ge/gmo foods? if any? perhaps there are crops like that. the film didn't mention any. let's say for a moment that there are benefits but the filmmakers hid it from the film. i don't think the pros outweigh the cons. i mean, what pros could possibly outweight the cons? more nutrition? higher yield? it's not good enough. here are the cons: ge/gmo foods have not been around long enough to have been studied thoroughly for human consumption but they have been studied enough to reveal that they can be harmful to test animals, causing lesions and even death. maybe the fda is shit but even they have not deemed ge/gmo food safe. other countries are labelling what is ge/gmo but we are only labeling what is not if we label at all! the corporations do not want labeling of what is ge/gmo because then a paper trail of accountability could happen. ge/gmo products have already been recalled due to severe allergic reactions. but how do you trace the triggers of cancer? remember when doctors endorsed cigarettes? remember when anything now deemed bad was deemed a good thing? the bottom line is: is your health important to you? is the health of the next generation important to you or do you not give a shit because you'll be dead by then? what are you willing to do for good health for yourself and for others?

not to overreact but not all foods are ge/gmo and the film points this out too. however, if we don't act soon though ge/gmo will take over and it won't just be plants. in the film, which is already a couple years old, they mentioned that corporations are trying to make ge/gmo fish and if even just 60 salmon were released into the wild, soon the entire population of salmon would be contaminated, (specifically in 40 generations of salmon). the good news is that organic awareness is growing as well as farmer's markets. there are even several states/counties that are introducing bills that would ban ge crops. alternatives are out there. you just have to look and support them. all of this just makes you wonder: do the execs at these seed corporations even eat food made from their own seeds? or do they buy all organic? besides that, if the corporations own the patent to a food, do they also own the patent to you? could they just walk up to animals and humans and test them for traces of their patents? i mean, now that life is patentable and cloning is trying to get out there, that's like a sci-fi film waiting to happen. if interested, check out thefutureoffood.com. i'm not going to list all the benefits of organic but you could start off by checking out the organic consumers association.