It’s interesting what to notice what gets covered and what doesn’t. Last Saturday, the Knoxville News Sentinel ran a story on the International March Against Monsanto which took place that same day. To give attention to a perceived left-wing cause would be enough for some readers of the paper to dismiss the News-Sentinel as a voice for the left. Never mind the fact that the protests included marches in 52 countries and 436 cities.
The thing that struck me, however, was the fact that the Sentinel chose to run an AP article from Los Angeles when in the heart of their own city protesters gathered for the same reason. It wasn’t a large crowd – I’d guess around seventy-five to one hundred – but it was a fervent crowd. They are passionate about a cause that is hard for some people to grasp, at first. Many people would simply prefer to believe our government will take care of us and we don’t need to worry. Oddly, people who tend to have the least faith in government, our friends on the right, appear to trust them the most with our food supply.
I talked about GMOs yesterday and I won’t go back through the entire issue, but you may ask, “why Monsanto?” Why make this particular company the subject of such intense ire? Well, they are the largest producers of genetically modified organisms and are also the manufacturers of Roundup, the most popular weed killer. A number of countries have banned many of their products and US relations are strained with some because of the more congenial relationship our government has with the company.
President Obama recently signed the “Farmer Assurance Provision” as part of a funding resolution. The bill is being slammed by environmental and consumer groups as basically giving Monsanto and other companies a green-light to proceed as they will with genetic alterations of our food without governmental and scientific scrutiny.
The company has also garnered attention for its aggressive legal targeting of farmers. The company forces farmers to agree to plant only one generation of crops from seeds purchased and if they use seeds from those crops for another crop, it sues. It has even targeted farmers from benefiting inadvertently from its seeds through cross-pollination. Heirloom seeds are threatened when used on farms which are surrounded by the Monsanto product.
Some fear our food chain is quickly becoming contaminated by genetically modified organisms to the point that turning back may be very difficult, if not impossible. And it has amazingly happened without much notice in the press and among the general public. That may be changing as more people become aware. If a simple Facebook posting in February can lead to world-wide marches three months later, it is obvious something is happening. When Knoxville joins in the movement is likely pretty far down the road.
At the very least the government could require labels warning consumers. Until research shows all this to be safe, it seems like a very little thing to ask. As things stand, it’s up to consumers to educate themselves and to ask questions at the supermarket and at restaurants about the origins of their food.