GM Food & Crops: Question their motives.

[Guest guest]

Fed Up! Genetic Engineering, Industrial Agriculture, and Sustainable

Alternatives.http://dietinfocare.com/health-and-wellness/genetically-modified-food-issues-educational-video-part-3/ About 70% of the food we eat contains genetically

modified ingredients and is not labeled. The biotechnology industry is

spending million a year to convince us that this technology is our only

hope for feeding the world and saving the environment. Family farmers

are disappearing at an astonishing rate as people continue to go hungry

both here and abroad. Using hilarious and disturbing archival footage

and featuring interviews with farmers, scientists, government officials

and activists, FED UP! presents an entertaining, informative and

compelling overview of our food production system from the Green

Revolution to the Biotech Revolution and what we can do about it. An

issue that has entered the mainstream media in a lot of countries

(noticeably not really in the US) is Genetic Engineering (GE) or

Genetic Modification (GM) of food. A lot of food that we eat today

contains genetically modified ingredients and usually without our

knowledge. Supporters of this technology maintain that it ensures and

sustains food security around the world as the population increases. As

time goes on, the science behind genetic engineering is no doubt

improving. Biotechnology could be the wave of the future and

genetically modified foods could really provide alternatives to help

increase food production. However, there is a growing wave of concern

from citizens, farmers and scientists who question the way the research

is currently being handled by a few large, profit-hungry corporations.

That is, as well as scientific debates on the merits of genetically

engineered food, there are equally, if not more important, debates on

the socioeconomic ramifications of the way such science is marketed and

used. Critics believe: The problem of food shortages is a political and

economic problem. Food shortages and hunger are — and will be —

experienced by the poorer nations. GE Food is an expensive technology

that the farmers of the developing nations would not be able to afford

easily. Patenting laws go against the poor around the world and allow

biotech companies to benefit from patenting indigenous knowledge often

without consent. This is a very young and untested technology and may

not be the answer just yet. Crop uniformity, which the biotech firms

are promoting, will reduce genetic diversity making them more

vulnerable to disease and pests. This furthers the need for pesticides

(often created by the same companies creating and promoting genetically

engineered crops). Hence this leads to questions of the motives of

corporations and countries who are using the plight of the developing

world as a marketing strategy to gain acceptance of GE food as well as

dependency upon it via intellectual property rights. That they are

against any labeling or other precautionary steps and measures that

states may wish to take is of paramount concern. The way in which we

reach the answer to the question, “are GE foods safe?†is where a lot

of the problem lies. A quick acceptance of GE foods without proper

testing etc. could show corporate profitability to be very influential,

while a thorough debate and sufficient public participation would

ensure that real social and environmental concerns are in fact adhered

to. And this pattern would probably indicate to us how other major

issues in the future ought to be dealt with. There is also the issue of

do we actually need genetically engineered food, given that agriculture

in small biodiverse farms are actually very productive. Economics and

politics at all levels, (international, national and local) have often

prevented food from reaching hungry people, not a lack of production.

These same causes have also created, or contributed to, a lot of

poverty, which prevents people from being able to afford food in the

first place. This section then, looks more into the political issues

behind the emerging promotion of biotechnology and genetically modified

or engineered foods. Producer: Angelo Sacerdote. Production Company:

Wholesome Goodness Productions. Keywords: food; agriculture;

genetically modified food; biotechnology. Creative Commons license:

Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United StatesOne vaccine decreases cell-mediated immunity by 50%, two vaccines by 70%…all triple vaccines (MMR, DTaP) markedly impair cell-mediated immunity, which predisposes to recurrent viral infections - Dr H H Fudenberg, world renowned immunologist.

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