During my trek from Green Street to
the quad, I often call home to check up on the family. Sometimes it’s my
brother or my sister who answers, but usually it’s my mom. Last week, when my
mom picked up she began with the typical “How are you? How was your weekend?” I
briefly told her about whatever I did that weekend (it must have been pretty
uneventful because I actually can’t remember) and then asked about hers. Once
she started talking I soon realized that this conversation was going to last longer
than what I had originally considered a far walk back to the quad. She had
recently gone to watch a documentary called Genetic
Roulette at the local university. The film is based off a book by Jeffrey
M. Smith, a leading advocate of non-GMO (genetically modified organisms) choices. My mom attempted to tell me
all she learned from the film, but, because of my horrible cell phone service,
I missed most of it and just answered with a lot of "mhms" and "oh, that's awful" when it seemed appropriate. I did, however, get
the general message that she was going to stop purchasing anything she
questioned as being GM food. In regards to scientific research, I knew that GMOs have been important for the
discovery and development of many medicines, such as HIV treatments and insulin.
However, when it came to GMOs and food, the only thing I really knew was that
some countries have banned GMO foods, others require labeling on their GMO
products, and the United States has no policy on GMO foods whatsoever.
According to Monsanto’s website,
they support food
companies’ choices to voluntarily label food products, but oppose current
initiatives to mandate labeling of ingredients developed from GM seeds in the
absence of any demonstrated risks. According to them, “such mandatory labeling
could imply that food products containing these ingredients are somehow
inferior to their conventional or organic counterparts.” I have yet to watch
the documentary, but the fact that we cannot get labeling on our food
already frustrates me. If GM foods are not inferior, then we should be able to decide for ourselves whether we want to buy GM products.
Below is the
trailer for those who may be interested in watching the documentary and perhaps
some of you have already seen it or read the book.
Also, here are some links for those who may be interested in advocating for GMO labeling in Massachusetts.
In my "Globalisation, Food, and the Environment" class we have been discussing GMOs extensively...it seems that the only danger besides contaminating non-GMO fields is that scientists still don't know enough about the whole splicing and inserting of genes, and then consuming foods where this has been done, to deem it entirely safe.
ReplyDeleteThere was a section on GMO's in the Food Project and I am now very aware of GMO vs non-GMO certified foods. I have to talk to my mom about what I have learned as well and will definitely watch that documentary. Thanks for providing more information on this important topic.
ReplyDeleteI only recently have learned about GMOs this summer when I was in charge of buying my own groceries. Thanks for the video and the information - I need all the education I can get!
ReplyDeleteI would say it is important to mention also that Monsanto is basically making it illegal for many farmers to save their seeds. I feel just labeling products and seeds would give consumers the choice. I am super sure I would be horrified at the amount of products containing GMO's are out there!
ReplyDeleteAfter we touched upon the topic of GMOs in class I had meant to do some more research, so this post gives me a nice place to start from. Currently, without being too informed, I am on the fence about GMOs. I don't imagine a world without GMOs anytime soon and I think we owe a lot of the variety we [can] have in our diet to GM food.. but I do detest the mystery and deception behind the system! The customer has the right to know and then make the choice at the grocery store.
ReplyDelete