News-flash: the FDA isn't there to protect our health or the health of the environment. Just ask the cosmetics industry, the meat/poultry/dairy industry, the pharmaceutical industry, the pesticides/ herbicides/ house hold cleaning products industry, and oh yeah, splenda! They've all largely profiteered off of the FDA's lack of a moral compass, of their convenient and quite frequent amnesia, routinely forgetting, oops, that they exist to protect us, the consumers, the public, the people who pay their salaries. Many of the FDAs top ranking officials eventually leave to work for the same companies who lined their pockets for approval, now instead of a six figure salary, they make seven. Corporate greed? The European Union will not allow for the release of products until they have successfully proved their safety, their criteria and demands on companies costs time and money, good for us, bad for moguls. - We all know the US has a bit of a learning curve. - That's why companies like L'oreal and Lancome prefer to produce their products here (for American consumption, obviously) where there's no rules, rather than in France. Sure, put whatever chemicals you want in my compact make-up when no one's watching - the TRIETHANOLAMINE, PARABENS AND SODIUM LAUREL SULFATES MAKE MY SKIN SO SOFT! take a peek at http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com
While I totally promote a walk on the wild side, I have some serious hesitations about our health, now and in the future. As well as the direct relationship it shares with the earth. I take care of sick people all day long, and anyone who's in the dark about what its like to spend your days in a hospital bed, news flash - IT SUCKS, well unless your my patient than you have something to look forward to. Examples of my wild side: I have a sweet tooth that will never be satisfied (if I had diabetes, I'd be dead), I eat homemade butter with a spoon, I drink copious amounts of wine and eat obscene amounts of cheese. Not every day, of course. Clearly, I am not a health expert and even resent the overzealous nutrition obsessed that take every last bit of fun out food. -- However, if you told me that there was genetically modified fish sitting on my plate, I'd have a dilemma. Then I'd say sorry little fish, I appreciate your sacrifice, really, I do, but I WILL NOT EAT YOU! As a lover of food, an epicurean soul mate - I'm also someone who thanks the earth for its beauty and bounty - I am truly offended by this prospect.
Why aren't more people (kudos to Ben & Jerry!!) freaking out about the implications of a genetically modified animal? Where are the pro-lifers and their conviction when you need them? Because taking a stand against this is PRO-LIFE! Pro ecosystem! Pro earth! Pro humanity! This could have long lasting implications on our food source. We, the fattest people in the world, could potentially die of starvation, if lets say (and this is very possible) a particularly virulent virus or bacteria evolves that targets that fish alone. Now lets say its the only salmon we have left, because introducing the GM salmon led to the extinction of wild salmon, we'd have none. Take that sushi roll off the menu. Kind of like, if there is blight, or fungi, or insects that evolve, and go after a certain apple tree, tomato plant, corn crop, and there's no variation in the field to compensate because we have mono-agriculture ---- we will starve. There's an estimate that 70-75 percent of processed foods on supermarket shelves, from soda to soup, crackers to condiments, contain genetically engineered ingredients.
This is starkly similar to the antibiotic situation. We have created freakishly clean environments, thank you bleach wipes and purrell, and we have treated every runny nose and scratchy through for the last twenty plus years with a dose of antibiotics. We've also been eating and drinking them in our meat and dairy. Now, antibiotic resistant microbes are running ramped through our hospitals, operating rooms, and communities. It is a huge problem, a uniquely American problem. The microbes got smarter and we got, well.... not.
This affects the birds, the bees, the trees, the soil, and the delicate balance of the natural world. There's a reason why the natural world is so incredibly diverse, and its not to amuse us. There is purpose in the existence of everything. We are so confident in the superiority of man kind, we think the earth was created round just so we could circle it, it's an obnoxious attitude of entitlement that's as virulent as anything. By and large, we don't have the fundamental appreciation for the wild, for the animals, for the insects, trees, plants, eachother, ourselves, our health? We should, I think.
Go buy some heirloom seeds before they're all gone, and read your food labels.
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