Opinion: The Future of Food documentary

The Future of Food is an enlightening documentary on American agriculture and the food that ultimately ends up in our bodies. Granted this film is probably biased from a liberal/environmentalist perspective and maybe somewhat conspiracy-theory in nature, but it brought up some valid points on the genetic engineering of food, American patent law, the interplay between business and government, and the need for consumer rights in this country.

A lot of the foods that we eat today are genetically engineered or contain products that are genetically modified. However, because of the American law that deems genetically engineered (GE) foods to be "equivalent" to non-GE foods, companies are not required to label GE foods. This is not the case in many European and Asian countries that require such labeling. In America, anything that is not USDA certified Organic could potentially have GE products in it. The main crops subject to GE include corn, canola, soybeans, and cotton; in other words, many of the major crops consumed by the American public.

The genetic engineering of food is a relatively young science that gained market presence in the 1990s. A big concern is that the health effects of GE foods may not be entirely known at this time. Most of the health research on GE foods has been conducted by the GE companies themselves. Many people, including myself, question the ability of these biotechnology companies to provide impartial research/results on GE foods. However despite this lack of due diligence concerning the safety of GE foods, they have been marketed and eaten by Americans for nearly 15 years now. So in this sense perhaps the companies are conducting their safety experiments...but on American consumers rather laboratory rats. Also there is the ecological concern of reduced biodiversity with the introduction of GE crops. These crops are engineered to be resistant to many of the factors that have plagued traditional crops including pests and inclement weather. If these super-GE crops out compete traditional crops it could mean a drop in the diversification of crop species. This could result in severe consequences to the global food supply should a blight or some other unforeseen malady wipe out the single crop species that is being grown.

Monsanto is one of the largest agricultural biotechnology corporations in the world; almost all GE seeds in the US are sold by Monsanto. Monsanto has patented many of the genes that are found in its GE foods, including possible terminator genes that limit the plant life to one reproductive cycle so that farmers must buy Monsanto seed season after season to continue growing crops. In accordance to patent law, Monsanto can sue any farmer that has a Monsanto plant on his/her land without Monsanto's "permission". The unfortunate thing is that plant genes have a way of moving in uncontrollable ways via cross-pollination. The unwitting farmer who suddenly finds his traditional corn contaminated by Monsanto's corn genes can be and has been sued by Monsanto. In these cases, the farmers are left with little legal options beyond burning their contaminated seed and either trying to find unadulterated seed from another source or buying readily available Monsanto GE seed. These cases are at the center of the social controversy of whether or not it is right to allow people to patent life. Legally there is no controversy; the precedence has been set to where life is patentable.

It is interesting that many of the government agencies that are supposed to regulate agriculture are headed by people who either worked or invested in Monsanto and the like. The American government gives huge crop subsidies because agriculture is not a profitable business perhaps because there is an overproduction of food in the country. The subsides are good for farmers but also good for companies like Monsanto that sell the seeds to produce crops. As a result, one can imagine that Monsanto has a very strong political lobbying arm with close ties to the American legislators. Because of crop subsidies, American crops are often cheaper than crops grown in other countries. As a result of market forces, other countries are forced to buy American corn, soybean, canola etc. because its cheaper to do so than to grow it on their own. In other words, American crop subsidies leads to the demise of farmer's all across the world who can no longer sell their crops at a competitive price. But this means greater profits for America and American-based Monsanto. This also means a decrease in crop diversification on a global scale.

Recently I read an article in The Economist on wheat rust and how it has returned despite having thought to been eradicated during the Green Revolution. The Green Revolution itself began when scientist Norman Borlaug discovered a gene that conferred resistance to wheat rust. This wheat rust resistant species became the dominant wheat variety across the world. However, after decades of evolution, wheat rust has figured out a way to overcome the resistant gene and is currently endangering wheat supplies across the world. (The Return of Wheat Rust)

My take-away from this documentary include the following:
1) Buy from local, family owned farms and eat organic produce
2) Petition for the labeling of genetically modified foods
3) Demand consumer rights
4) Do more research on Green Revolution, Monsanto, and the science of genetically engineered foods

Please watch The Future of Food documentary available on Hulu.