July 15, 2012 |
Some people are too smart for your own good.
Food
geneticists, for example. These technicians have the smarts to tinker
with the inner workings of Momma Nature's own good foods -- but not the
smarts to leave well enough alone.
In
fairness, much of their scientific tinkering has been beneficial. But
during the past half-century, too much of their work devolved from
tinkering into outright tampering with our food. This is mostly the
result of money flowing to both private and public research centers from
big agribusiness corporations that want nature's design altered in ways
that fatten their bottom lines. Never mind that the alterations created
by these smart people are frequently not good for you and me.
Take
the tomato, truly a natural wonder. Agribusiness profiteers, however,
wanted it to do unnatural things, so -- voila! -- the genetic tamperers
in the 1960s and '70s
dutifully produced the Amazing Industrial Tomato. It's a techno-marvel
made to endure long-distance shipping, be harvested while green and then
artificially ripened to appear tomato-y red and last an ungodly amount
of time without rotting.
But
taste? Forget it. There's more flavor in the carton. This led to the
"Upchuck Rebellion" -- a grassroots movement of consumers, small farmers
and local food artisans. In the last couple of decades, they've spurred
phenomenal growth in farmers markets and stores that offer nature's own
locally produced and heirloom varieties untouched by the smart ones.
But,
look out, the tomato tamperers are back in the lab! They've discovered
that a mutated gene they had bred into the corporate tomato switches off
other genes that would cause the fruit to develop flavor. The answer,
they say, is not less technology, but more.
By
artificially re-engineering the DNA structure of the plant, they can
bypass that naughty mutated gene and switch on some of the flavor genes.
But do we really want to eat genetically engineered tomatoes?
Still,
you can expect them to push the latest alteration of nature's marvel. I
can just see the agribusiness ad: "Buy our industrial tomatoes -- Now
genetically flavored!" Better yet, buy the local tomatoes, which don't
need a smart geneticist or an ad to deliver real flavor.
Unfortunately,
it's not just tomatoes they're tampering with. For instance, if you are
parent you may be worried about the plethora of highly questionable
bio-engineered organisms that the profiteers have quietly been slipping
into everything from snack foods to school lunches.
Well,
perhaps your own children can put your mind at ease, for science
teachers around the country have been assigning a book called "Look
Closer at Biotechnology" to the kiddos in their classes. It's filled
with colorful images, friendly cartoon faces, puzzles and more!
The
very first page makes clear that the scientific wonder of genetically
engineered foods pose no worries at all. "Hi, kids," it begins.
"This
is an activity book for young people like you about ... a really neat
topic." Why is it so neat? Because, say the authors, "as you work
through the puzzles in this book, you will learn more about
biotechnology and all the wonderful ways it can help people live better
lives in a healthier world. Have fun!"
Fun?
With genetically engineered food? That's not fun, it's serious business
-- and look who's behind this book of fairy tales: the Council for
Biotechnology Information.
Exactly
what and who is CBI? It's a PR and political front for the biotech
industry, financed by such multibillion-dollar giants as Monsanto,
Bayer, DuPont and Dow. It's also now funneling hundreds of thousands of
dollars into the industry's deceitful political campaign to kill a
California "Right to Know" ballot initiative that finally would require
food giants to label all products containing genetically engineered
organisms.
This
raises an obvious question for those of us who prefer food from nature,
not from engineering labs: What are we to do about corporate powers
that are so avaricious and arrogant that they're willing to tamper with
our food supply, our kids' minds and our basic consumer rights? Defeat
them, that's what!
Here are three good sources for information and action: JustLabelIt.org,
NonGMOShoppingGuide.com and OrganicConsumers.org.
To
find out more about Jim Hightower, and read features by other Creators
Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate webpage
at www.creators.com.
COPYRIGHT 2012 CREATORS.COM
Jim Hightower is a national radio commentator, writer, public speaker, and author of the new book, "
Swim Against the Current: Even a Dead Fish Can Go With the Flow." (Wiley, March 2008) He publishes the monthly "
Hightower Lowdown," co-edited by Phillip Frazer.
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