We used to be a nation of farmers. Most anybody knew how to grow food. We knew how to tend animals, how to grow plants, how to harvest, how to store, and how to seed our crops.
Now, the common person knows little to nothing about growing food. Most of us don't even know where the food we eat comes from.
Because so many of our ancestors grew crops, there was a large variety of "Land Races" or rather, there was a large variety in the genetics from one crop to the next within the same species. Be it corn, carrots or potatoes, we only now use 10% of the variety we used to have world wide.
Most of the variety that is left are in small countries that are not selling or producing on a large scale. This can and has caused major problems.
When you have a large mono-crop, when that strain of plant is weakened, diseased or plagued by a certain bug, then the entire crop gets it. In the past, you could just go to your neighbor for a different strand of seeds, but now, these gigantic crops must look out of the country to find different strains to replant.
Because so many of us are unfamiliar with the process, we're not aware of how little the common farmer is paid. We're not aware of what's done to our food, how far it's shipped, and even if our food has been genetically altered or not.
In Europe, or Japan for example, it'll say right on the package ingredients, "genetically modified." In both of those countries the people voted against genetically modified foods. Here in America the foods have not been tested, and have not been voted on by the Congress or by the people. Because it's not on the labels, it's not even traceable.
Scientific Research on Genetically Modified Plants;
One of the great mysteries surrounding the spread of GMO plants around the world since the first commercial crops were released in the early 1990’s in the USA and Argentina has been the absence of independent scientific studies of possible long-term effects of a diet of GMO plants on humans or even rats. Now it has come to light the real reason. The GMO agribusiness companies like Monsanto, BASF, Pioneer, Syngenta and others prohibit independent research.
An editorial in the respected American scientific monthly magazine, Scientific American, August 2009 reveals the shocking and alarming reality behind the proliferation of GMO products throughout the food chain of the planet since 1994. There are no independent scientific studies published in any reputed scientific journal in the world for one simple reason. It is impossible to independently verify that GMO crops such as Monsanto Roundup Ready Soybeans or MON8110 GMO maize perform as the company claims, or that, as the company also claims, that they have no harmful side effects because the GMO companies forbid such tests!
That’s right. As a precondition to buy seeds, either to plant for crops or to use in research study, Monsanto and the gene giant companies must first sign an End User Agreement with the company. For the past decade, the period when the greatest proliferation of GMO seeds in agriculture has taken place, Monsanto, Pioneer (DuPont) and Syngenta require anyone buying their GMO seeds to sign an agreement that explicitly forbids that the seeds be used for any independent research. Scientists are prohibited from testing a seed to explore under what conditions it flourishes or even fails. They cannot compare any characteristics of the GMO seed with any other GMO or non-GMO seeds from another company. Most alarming, they are prohibited from examining whether the genetically modified crops lead to unintended side-effects either in the environment or in animals or humans.
A recent shocking study showed that hamsters being fed genetically modified soy went sterile as well as some other shocking side effects; such as growing hair on the insides of their mouths.
If you're still not convinced you should boycott Monsanto's products for your health and for the good of the world, check out The Monsanto Files.
“Monsanto should not have to vouchsafe for the safety of biotech food, our interest is in selling as much as possible. Assuring its safety is the FDA’s job.”
Director of Corporate Communication – Monsanto
New York Times, Oct. 25, 1998
Here is another lovely reason to boycott Monsanto; The use of RoundUp and GMOs is leading to procedures than will lower crop yields and raise food prices.
For more on this topic, watch this fascinating documentary that explains the entire process of genetically modifying plants: Watch The Documentary: The Future Of Food
Stop buying Monsanto's products. Now, please.