How do we eat well safely? How do we decipher between what’s actually good for us and what isn’t, even though it appears to be?
With more and more genetically modified products (and produce) showing up on grocer’s shelves, it’s becoming increasingly difficult (and expensive) to just simply eat well. I rely heavily on labels to inform me of what I’m ingesting, but it’s very difficult to keep tabs on what companies employ genetic modification on the foods they sell. Does eating well mean I have to shop at 4 or 5 different stores in order to fill my cupboards?
There is a solution, but our government doesn’t feel it a necessity. Countries like China, Australia, Japan and all of the EU require products sold in grocer’s markets to be labelled as genetically modified or that the product contains a genetically modified ingredient such as corn syrup, (which is in nearly everything). At the very least, I would be able to decide for myself how much crap I’m going to let myself ingest everyday.
In a country that prides itself on its freedoms, imagine what a simple little label on a food product would actually represent. If you’re not aware of the state of the world’s food supply then I don’t want to be the one to add to your pile of s**t to worry about, but what we eat is huge. Bigger than global warming and bigger than war. If we have nothing good to eat, then we have no hope. The best real thing to do, from what I know, is to write to our local, provincial and federal representatives demanding action on this issue. I know it’s hard to do sometimes, but it’s worth it. It’s our right to know what we are eating, what our kids are eating and it’s their responsibility to keep us informed. Good luck.—Mac Thomas
This article appears in Apr 1-7, 2010.
“Bigger than global warming and bigger than war”
but not really bigger than global hunger…
not that I’m a huge advocate or anything
but I doubt those billion Africans are really concerned about how their 5 grains of rice a day are grown.
still… genetically modifying my food to make more of it… stay fresher longer…
fine… good!
you’re one of those organic freak, allergy to everything types, is ya?
you use your brain to think. then you decide what mankind has been eating the same, for the last couple thousand years. no, i don’t mean the store bought radiated meat and chicken and shit. find someone, or someplace, that has the natural variety of food that your great grand parents ate. it is out there, look around. if i can find stuff, so can anyone else.
I only eat food near me that I can catch myself!
Here, kitty, kitty, kitty!
More expensive? Is anything more expensive than organic food? And ditto what zZz said, genetically modified food has saved billions of lives. The guy who developed genetic modification in foods and discovered it’s potential to take a chunk out of world hunger is a hero.
But here we have the luxury of being picky. Does anyone know if any credible studies have concluded that genetically altered foods are bad for us? Or is this just a combination of paranoia and the worlds most growing trend.
Although I do agree that buyers in Canada should know more about the food they purchase, not just how it’s been grown/processed, but where it came from. Not because of the alleged dangers of genetically altered foods (woOOoo) but just because I’d rather at least have the option of knowing than not.
If you’re really that concerned OP, start a vegetable garden, and get some chickens… but you’re probably vegan or something anyway.
*annoying trend
growing? ugh
You need to do more research on GM Foods. GM foods contain the same nutrients and have the same composition as organics. They have been in all grocery stores for over 10 years and there have been no reported ill effects. They are regulated…everywhere. Canada and the USA do require that food be labelled as GM..IF there is over a 1% difference in composition, thus, this food has at least 99% identical biological equivalence. To ensure this, there is a high degree of regulation in Canada and the US from agencies such as: Health Canada, Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Canadian Institute of Health Research, FDA, USDA, and the National Instututes of Health…to name a few!
The food is NOT synthetic, hence the term modified. You need to understand that this can mean something as simple as prolonging the expression of a gene that affects growth.
I will not even touch on the present and potential benefits of GM crops and foods, except to say that not only can such things improve taste, nutrition/quality, and decrease cost, they also improve productivity, improve health, and can/will cure many ailments and diseases.
For criminey’s sakes don’t get fucking chickens if you are within the boundaries of HRM…FFS we will loose whatever attention span City Council has and it might even let them sneak in another fucking cat debate.
That was mean, ML! Kitties aren’t for eating…well…
ok nevermind.
i can’t believe you people actually trust your government to do the best thing for you… they are like everyone else, looking out for themselves at our expense… the government does NOT label foods as GM here or in the US… its a voluntary system that nobody volunteers for because GM products are BAD… dummy… Africans (sorry to generalize and a nation of farmers I might ad and the birthplace of humanity) have no food because war has taken these lands away from these people…. you’ve probably never even been to the place, which means, you know nothing about the place… you just regurgitate the bullshit you hear and have no real idea of what you’re talking about… bah bah dumb sheep, be careful and don’t stray too far from the herd, you might actually learn something… dummy
fizz and zzz…. you guys are dumb…. how many hours a day do you spend talking about things you know nothing about, all of them… let me guess… you always think you’re the hit of the party, but you’re too self-absorbed to see that nobody really listens to you… you probably also think that bitching about something is just as good as doing something about it… a couple of morons… all cock and no balls… dummies
UM… you too… everything you stated is completely false.. everything… holy fuck guys… get off the CNN and FOX… time to wake up… turn off the TV for a couple days and read something a little more substantial than the news feed scrolling across the bottom of your idiot box… or don’t… good little sheep, good little sheep… get on now…
Fizz and zzz can write a cohesive sentence. Now who’s dumb?
Easy NGF…. or is it NFG… (no fuckin good)… this is obviously the wrong place for creative discussion… and you’re still dumb NGF… you are…
Oh god…
mclean just used the sheep reference.
CONGRATULATIONS mclean!!!!
You are proud winner of the daily “I’m a Kaytard” award.
Your grandprize consists of complete puplic disregard of anything you typesay for the next 24 hours.
Everybody give the winner a big round of applause!!
clapping and clapping and clapping…baa baa baa
All of the studies I can find that claim to prove that GM foods might be harmful have been debunked by other scientists, and I only found three of them… It seems that GM foods have been approved by scientists and governments all over the world. um.. is right, people have been eating them for 15 years and no ill effects? What more do people want? Plus Greenpeace is against GM food, that should tell you something about the credibility of its opposition.
I think GM food needs to be demystified. People are still stuck with images of hybrid tomato-fish and whatnot.
Hey mclean, you conservative retard…I’ve done the research, taken the courses, worked in the industry, and have seen, first hand, the benefits.
Btw, I am canadian…I do not indulge myself in the lies the american media likes to exlploit on channels like FOX and CNN. Also.. you may be aware that the US gov’t does not publicly support or promote GMO’s…look up the arguments that country tries to make against gene therapies.
p.s. Is ‘dumb’ really your favorite word?! Thumbs down to you… what of your creativity?!
Modified foods you say…
Look if it smells like bacon, tastes like bacon & looks just like a freshly flayed pussy cat !
I’m still going to eat it, & go back for more .
It can also be ‘NGF’ to mean “No-Good Fucker”.
Again, mclean, learn how to write properly and you won’t look like such a mule.
freaking out over genetically modified food is retarded. you eat it, it gets digested and it all still gets shit out…the end
“””I will not even touch on the present and potential benefits of GM crops and foods, except to say that not only can such things improve taste, nutrition/quality, and decrease cost, they also improve productivity,””‘
I completely agree that GM crops, as a whole, have somehow developed a 1950’s-style “duck and cover” hysteria against them…However that is probably because most of the major corporations, like Monsanto, have concentrated their efforts on the latter, e.g. “productivity” (and profit), at the expense of health, nutrition and above all, taste…
Good point BMF, a lot of corporations are like that. But GM food in itself is not the problem like many seem to think it is. There’s nothing dangerous about the technology as long as it’s dealt with properly and responsibly. It’s when the people distributing any type of food product cut corners that people get hurt.
I do agree with you mR fRosTy, but to a point. Monsanto has had it’s fair share of bad business practice; however, one must put that into perspective
The company has been around since the early 1900’s, and was developed as part of the pharmaceutical industry (the GM sector addition did not occur until the 80’s)- first clue…money hungry bastards. Many of the lawsuits filed against them, and issues that were had, were centered on the synthetic and pharmaceutical sectors, or discrepancies as to who was to earn what capital.. as opposed to the actual GM product. This is not to say that the company has not been run by giant douchebags, which it clearly has, but, if I were to ask everyone I know what they knew about Monsanto or any scandal involving GM foods, at least 95% of them wouldn’t have a clue (and as far as I’m aware, there really isn’t anything horribly scandalous that has occured with any GM food company..aside from money matters) . I would agree and say that Monsanto’s productivity/profit came first and foremost, and they were eager beavers to get their products out there, but, the rest if what you said is going too far.
I believe that the reason why people are so hestiant to believe the good about this topic has nothing to do with genetic engineering and everything to do with the government and the pharmaceutical industry (not in that order)..they control the media, the money, the power, and therefore, the public. Since the pharm industry now does stand to profit from this industry, I think we may start to see a change.
Fuck knows what diseases are in “organic” foods. They have no protection from disease cause you know then they won’t be “organic”.
As for “organic” food being affordable, who the fuck you trying to kid. I saw a free range turkey in the store selling at $102, that’s right $102, and the same size regular turkey was $54.
I suppose organic humans are superior and healthier than those who got childhood vaccines.
Then you have the “local food” people, you know never eat anything produced more than 100kms from their home. I hope scurvey takes you down as you can’t have citrus or a potasium deficiency because bananas are off the list too.
Montsanto is known mostly for 1) modifying their admittedly hi-yield crops so that they won’t produce seed, and you need to purchase seeds anew every year and 2) so that they are 100% dependent on bug-spray/chemicals made by, um, Monsanto…They are NOT known for making a particularly good tasting tomato.
It’s not the science people would object to, it’s the blatant greed…but the “science” is used as the ‘scare tactic”…giant radioactive tomatoes that will suck the nutrients from the earth and give us all cancer…that sort of thing.
The “left” shoots itself in the foot with those tactics…
haha Bro Tim…good post.
The 100 km diet is great if you live in the Okanagan valley…but there’s only so much turnip, corn and lobster a fellow can eat out here!
And the “free range” thing makes me laugh…”yeah, sure mistah, I got one ‘o your “free range” turkey right here! Bugsy, go out t’freezer and get me one ‘o them “free range” birds, wouldja? And make it snappy! Yeah, free range, no praw-blem…”
What a joke.
For some reason I am reminded of the company that, for $50,000, will “clone” your dead pet! that’s right, 50 grand.
I tell you what, I’ll do it for 25! Alls I need is some fur, or a lump of shit…whatever you got!
Oh, and a picture, yeah, I need a picture of little fluffy as well, that’s, uh, that’s important…
A lump of shit, a pic and 25 grand…and I’ll have your new “cloned” pet by tommorrow!
Calgene was the company responsible for the FlavrSavr tomato, and the technology itself produced better, firmer, longer lasting, and more flavorful tomatoes. The downfall of this company was their use of cultivar- they were inexperienced in the farming industry. Monstanto later bought them out.
The point of it all being…their is no difference, let alone harmful side effects, from GM crops and foods. It IS the science people object to.. it’s the science that people are scared of, because it’s the science that people don’t nor want to understand… yes science is used as the scare tactic and also as the scape goat, but it sure isn’t the companies that are at fault or advocating this “if you support science then tomatoes with killer fangs will destroy us all” idea. This is the point that I was trying to make.
Btw bmf… I like you. You’re fun. Thanks.
I just loved how mclean was all
“you’re fools… don’t believe everything you hear…. you know nothing…read more…”
end
no counter-position.. no information… no nothing.
nothing but fluff….
fluffy mclean.
Monsanto is known for being fucking bastards.
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/feature…
I absolutely looove GM food. I bought a thing of strawberries that were the sizes of apples, they tasted fantastic, and they didn’t go bad in 3 hours. I hate all these negative BS about GM food. By the OPs logic we should all be dead by now from all the ‘horrible’ things they put in food. Oh, but aren’t we living ’till 80 instead of 25? This is kinda off topic, but I never understood those old ‘native’ remedy things. Didn’t natives only live ’till 30 if they were lucky?
Hey Mod 4.0 – why was my post removed? It did not break any of the posting rules.
yeah, I’ve seen some wonky removals as well…
like a
“BWA HA HA HA HA” from trixxxy… or something like that…
very strange… but I see the 4 o’clock issue is fixed so that’s progress…
“”This is kinda off topic, but I never understood those old ‘native’ remedy things. Didn’t natives only live ’till 30 if they were lucky?””
One of the (many) ways that we misuse statistics today is with the ubiquitous “life expectancy” number. The primary reason this magical number has doubled in 100 years is infant mortality.
It’s an “average” age that a human could expect to survive to…not the “modal” age (where most did survive to).
If one guy lives to 80, but his twin dies of diptheria at one month..the twins lived for an average of, well, 40 years.
Even in the dark ages, if one was properly nourished, had clean water to drink, and didn’t have to work himself to death, or go to war, or be exposed to foreign lands and their diseases…in other words was a land-owner….one could expect to live their 3 score and ten, just like today.
Finally, while infant mortality HAS decreased ten-fold in the past 300 years…it’s not science or modern medicine that is primarily reposible. It comes down to one thing, and one thing only…don’t shit near your dinner dish!
Hope this helps.
😉
I think the problem is GMOs are patented and owned by big business. they in turn end up owning the food industry. IT’s scary enough that Canada isn’t going to have enough farmers to feed itself in 15 years or so. It’s scarier that big business is going to feed us. How does the 5gram bag of rice look to you now????
Ah debits, the food industry has been big business for a long time now,