It�s
time to blame the people. Again.
We�re
told that we have an �obesity problem� and we�re told
we have a high blood pressure epidemic and a diabetes
epidemic, along with unusual cancers, especially among
the children, and we�re told that we have many other problems.
We have a problem with water (we soon won�t be able to
find enough potable water for our teeming cities) and
we have a problem with our air (in many places it�s not
a good idea to breathe too much of it).
One
aspect of our myriad problems is the possible connection
between obesity and genetically modified organisms (GMOs),
and the fight that is under way in California. On one side of the issue are the people and on the other
side are corporations, like Monsanto and other giant agribusinesses,
which have a stranglehold on the American food system.
For
many years, people across the country have become increasingly
concerned about the way their food is raised, processed,
transported, and retailed. In the past couple of decades,
they began to be concerned about GMOs, which some call
genetically manipulated food crops (and, even, animals).
These crops have been rather mysterious (until it was
time to market them commercially) and their origins were
shrouded in laboratory research, apart from the farms
and ranches where such �research� had been done for the
millennia.
People
who eat were told that GMOs would produce more food, using
the same amount of energy and effort, and that in some
cases would be immune to specific diseases and pests.
It sounded like a miracle or, more to the point, it sounded
like magic. As it turned out, it wasn�t so magical. In
many cases, the GMO crops did not even produce as much
as conventionally hybridized seeds. And their effects
on humans and other creatures who consumed them is not
known, although there is great evidence that there are
many negative effects of consuming these foods.
In
California, a group was formed last year, the California Committee
for the Right to Know, to ask the government for just
one thing: Require the labeling of GMOs. That�s all. Just
label the foods you have in your supermarkets that are
the products of genetic manipulation, so that we can have
a choice about whether to buy them.
The
committee gathered a total of 971,126 signatures since
last November, in preparation for placing the question
on the ballot in this fall�s election. They needed 550,000
valid signatures to put it on the ballot; there is that
kind of keen interest in the issue. Between now and then,
however, everyone involved expects there to be a battle
royal, with Monsanto and Corporate America spending whatever
they have to, to defeat this measure. They do not want
the people to even consider what the corporations have
planned for their dinner (tonight, and on into the future).
As
for blaming the people for our nation�s problems�the obesity
�epidemic� could have something to do with the manipulation
of the food-like substances that food corporations put
on supermarket shelves. It is accepted that more than
80 percent of corn in the U.S. is GMO and more than
90 percent of soybeans are GMO. There are other crops
that are now genetically manipulated, but much of what
is put out there for human consumption contains corn and
soy and thousands of items contain high fructose corn
syrup, which many scientists have concluded is a leading
cause of obesity.
So-called
medical experts and others, many of whom represent the
food and medical industries, like to blame a sedentary
life and the eating of junk food (or unhealthy food) as
main causes of obesity, high blood pressure, cancer, and
other serious health problems. They also like to point
out that the poor among us are fat. How can they be fat,
if they�re poor, they ask? Usually, they don�t address
the kind of food that is available in poor neighborhoods.
There is some effort to change that debate, but it is
very slow in reaching the national level, so that it might
be an issue in a presidential election.
Often,
the closest thing to a restaurant in a poor neighborhood
is a fast food shop and there is no supermarket within
several miles. There might be a convenience store, but
all they offer is snack food, filled with corn and soy
products, filled with poor quality oil and high fructose
corn syrup (including the ubiquitous soft drinks). When
this is the case in a neighborhood, it�s called a �food
desert.� It�s hard to get raised healthy in a food desert
and millions of our children are growing up in them.
All
of this, of course, is not to mention the hormones and
antibiotics that have routinely been given to cattle and
chickens to make them grow faster (and, thereby, eat less
feed to reach slaughter weight) and not to mention routinely
giving food animals antibiotics, not just to keep them
from getting sick, but also to make them grow faster.
The
corporations that control our food system do not want
people to think about the food-like substances they are
being offered as food. They do not want the people to
start thinking that it might be the food, itself, that
is causing the problems. Certainly, the uproar that is
under way over the labeling of GMO foods is an indication
that people are, indeed, thinking about the food they
eat and its effect on them.
Blaming
the people for the ills of society is an old ploy for
those in control. About 20 years ago, there was a problem
with salmonella in the chicken that was being sold across
the nation. At least some of the problem was traced to
the way the chickens were being slaughtered and processed
and, as part of the process, the finished chickens were
dipped into vats that contained antibiotics, among other
things. Some critics called the dip �fecal soup,� since
the contents of the vats contained that part of the chicken
viscera, as well.
When
the chickens were prepared for sale, they were rinsed
and appeared fresh and clean. To avoid any trace of salmonella
or other contaminant, the U.S. government made a recommendation. Did they
recommend that the chicken processing plants change their
operations to avoid contamination at the outset? No. They
changed the rules and had instructions printed on the
chicken packages�for the customer! The steps taken were
similar to those of any sanitized space, washing all utensils,
the counters the chicken touched, the cutting board, and
the cook�s hands. Suddenly, the family was responsible
for its own health, and not the processors, who turned
out chickens by the millions. The attitude was that, if
you got sick, it was your own fault. The American people
became responsible for the shortcomings of the food industry.
So
it is with GMO foods. The general public does not know
how GMOs affect humans, although there is plenty of evidence
that it is not good, yet there is an inexorable propaganda
and advertising (is there a difference?) drive by the
food corporations to force us to eat those foods, simply
because we don�t know what we�re eating. That�s why the
fight over labeling in California
is going to be so fierce. It may take political overtones,
since politicians likely will be on the ballot side by
side with the question of GMO labeling. And, that�s why
it will be important to monitor the money that comes from
the side of Corporate America. With the U.S. Supreme Court�s
Citizens United ruling, big business money will
be unlimited, just as it will be in the elections, in
general.
It
would be common sense not to put GMOs on the market, until
there is proof that the eating of them will not cause
harm, but that�s not how it works in this country. Rather,
substances (chemical and comestible) are put on the market
without testing to determine their safety and they must
be proven unsafe. When billions of dollars of profit are
at stake, there is little incentive to do any such testing
and it isn�t done unless there is a crisis or a catastrophe.
Since everyone eats, there is a possible catastrophe waiting
to happen and, in fact, may be under way now, but we can�t
see it or touch it or feel it. We just know that people
have strange ailments and deadly diseases and don�t know
why.
At
the very least, we need to have GMOs labeled, so that
we can make a decision about whether to buy those products,
or not. In a country that prides itself on free choice,
it should not be very difficult to make a choice about
food. All that needs to be done is to require labeling,
on raw foods and on food products that contain GMO substances.
How hard could that be?
It�s
time for the powerful profit-mongers to stop blaming poor
families for their poor health and for obesity. It�s time
for them to stop blaming all Americans for the �obesity
epidemic� and all of the other epidemics that appear directly
connected to the food they are forced to eat, food that
is produced and marketed by a system that is controlled
by just a handful of giant corporations.
Not
knowing what you are eating is an unhealthy situation
and, as a people, we have very little information about
what we eat. It�s why the GMO labeling ballot initiative
is so important in California
this fall, but let�s go one even better. The Congress
should be considering a bill that would require the entire
national food system to label GMO foods.
We
know that it would not solve all our problems, but it
would be a good start. And, it would show that members
of Congress can actually accomplish something. Tell them
to do it.
BlackCommentator.com
Columnist, John Funiciello, is a labor organizer and former
union organizer. His union work started when he became
a local president of The Newspaper Guild in the early
1970s. He was a reporter for 14 years for newspapers in
New York State. In
addition to labor work, he is organizing family farmers
as they struggle to stay on the land under enormous pressure
from factory food producers and land developers. Click
here
to contact Mr. Funiciello.
