avocado8

Force-Feeding Frankenfoods

Ooooh, this makes me so MAD!! Everyone keeps talking about the lack of adverse health effects of genetically-modified foods, when they should be talking about their impact on the diversity of ecosystems. GMOs are a global environmental issue, not an immediate-term health issue. I also find the idea that Europe is boycotting American biotech foods because they disagree with the Bush administration's policies in Iraq ridiculous. Europe is rightly suspicious of American companies' efforts to control the world's food supply, and they've always been more environmentally conscious than the U.S. as a whole. Europe's stance on GMOs hasn't changed. If this dispute has any connection to Iraq, it's that invading Iraq seems to have made the Bush administration more confident that it can bully the rest of the world to get what it wants.

Recommended reading:

• The Food Revolution by John Robbins (especially Part IV: Genetic Engineering)
• Fast Food Nation by Eric Scholsser, which gives great insight into the farming and ranching industries (and they *are* industries).
• Hope's Edge: The Next Diet for a Small Planet by Frances Moore Lappe and Anna Lappe (haven't read yet, but it's on my list)