…So Bayer, a German company, has crops of GMO rice growing in America. I assume this is because GMO’s are’nt allowed in the EU, as well as in most of the rest of the world. The decision makes sense of course because besides being one of the few places that can buy food that has had different poisons spliced into its genes, we are happy to offer our entire ecosystem to multinational chemical companies to try stuff out on. Why not?
Anyway in this case, Bayer was playing around with three different versions of a rice that has a bacteria spliced into its genetics in order to make it poison-proof so that agri-business can dump unbefore seen amounts of poison on ceral crops. Sounds exactly like the miracle we need, right? We will never know, because years ago Bayer gave up on it and never finished it’s approval process.
“Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns announced late yesterday that U.S. commercial supplies of long-grain rice had become inadvertently contaminated with a genetically engineered variety not approved for human consumption.”
So something that is not supposed to be in our food is in our food.
“Bayer CropScience of Monheim, Germany, had provided information to the Agriculture Department and the Food and Drug Administration indicating that the rice poses no threats to human health or the environment.”
So we are not worried because the guys that have done the contaminating tell us not to worry.
“Johanns said he did not know where the contaminated rice was found or how widespread it may be in the U.S. food supply. The agency first learned about it from the company, he said, after it discovered "trace amounts" during testing of commercial supplies.”
We would have no idea if the company didn’t come clean about their screw up, and even that they have now done the first half of our job, we have decided it doesn’t really merit much of an understanding.
“Johanns acknowledged that the discovery could have a significant impact on rice sales -- especially exports, which are worth close to $1 billion a year. Many U.S. trading partners have strict policies forbidding importation of certain genetically engineered foods, even if they are approved in the United States.”
The USDA, whose primary job it is to insure that we can safely sell our food, knows little other than that we may not be able to sell huge amounts of our food, thanks to this little screw up.
“If we become aware of any new information to suggest that food or feed is unsafe, we will take action," Johanns said.”
We feel confident that the guys that screwed it up in the first place are the right ones to look out for the best interest of our farmers and our consumers and will trust them to handle decisions on how to handle this going forward.
So here we are, years after Bayer stopped caring about this certain frankencrop, and it is polluting the rest of our crops, which in turn makes the affected crops un-sellable in most of the world. Whether or not they are unhealthy for us seems beside the point, a trifling matter to be ignored. Do any of the rest of you feel like we might as well find out exactly how many of each of our tax dollars go to this agency and withhold them next April 15th???
...Once faced with the contention that it was cheaper to buy some burritos from Taco Bell than anything else by a friend in college, I countered with my evaluation of the cost effectiveness of a pound of pasta, a head of broccoli, some garlic and some olive oil. Some simple kitchen skills can turn the advantage to the consumer when looking for healthy/ fairly-priced food. Here are some pretty reasonable thoughts regarding how to get real food into the lives of people in a lower income bracket…
…I know this is convoluted and a tough way to get there, but this article from the Times proves to me that an open market is the way to make food better. In spite of the enormous subsidies given to corn in America, these farmers and consumers have managed to find each other and are improving their respective situations. I am sure it won’t take long for this to get all screwed up, by the government looking to help big business compete with the smaller farmers and muddying up what grass-fed means as they are already doing with organics. But at the moment, in an open un-tampered market, this seems to be working well, even if you need to learn the name of a good maker and not be lazy and just trust truth in marketing (but would you buy brand-less clothes?)…
…Turns out not all Chicago politicians are boobs; some are just slow to act. Mayor Daley finally comes out about the silliest legislation ever…
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