I do like Friends of the Earth. In its most recent Newsmagazine, Friends of the Earth has documented how genetic engineering is being used by corporations like Dow and Monsanto to design crops that actually promote the use of ever more toxic pesticides, and that make our food system dependent on synthetic chemicals. The federal government seems to be aiding and abetting. Organic agriculture is the alternative.
Organic agriculture is based on the idea that we can produce abundant and healthy food by learning about nature, and then conducting our agricultural operations to make use of nature and natural processes to provide the food we need to live and prosper.
Corporate, chemical, and non-organic agriculture is based on the idea that we should substitute our own creations for what Nature has provided, and that our food system should be based on human-created synthetics.
My analysis convinces me that while we can create almost anything we want to, in the "human created world" in which we most immediately live, we live ultimately in the World of Nature, a world we don't create, and it is that World of Nature upon which we ultimately rely. That's the world from which we should be getting our food.
I think Friends of the Earth is right. There is a fight going on for "the future of food."
Read the article. See what you think.
Pick a side!
http://www.foe.org/publications/newsmagazines
GM technology adoption has reduced chemical pesticide use by 37%, increased crop yields by 22%, and increased farmer profits by 68%. Yield and profit gains are higher in developing countries than in developed countries [1]. When discussing GMOs, pesticides means Bt or Glyphosate. Glyphosate is one of the least toxic substances I can think of, less toxic (for humans) than baking soda and table salt [2]. Organic farmers have used Bt responsibly for nearly 40 years [3]! GM technology allows for less Bt overall because the plants make the stuff in their tissues, so you don't have to spray it on. None of the crops we plant are "natural" or have they been for thousands of years. Not since the advent of agriculture and selective breeding. There's nothing "natural" about organic agricultural practices. They are purely human inventions.
ReplyDelete1. http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0111629
2. http://geneticliteracyproject.org/2014/04/30/is-glyphosate-used-with-some-gm-crops-dangerously-toxic-to-humans/
3. https://www.organicconsumers.org/old_articles/Organic/ov3.php
Also, *all* of agriculture is based on the idea that we should substitute our own creations for what nature has provided! This is as true for corporations as it is for back yard hobbies gardener. It was true a thousand years before Adam Smith was born.
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