Food Inc.

On Friday in class, we watched Food Inc., a documentary directed by Robert Kenner starring Eric Schlosser (author of Fast Food Nation) and many other well known people in the area. The movie wasn't super surprising for me. Last year in Plants and Peoples with Dr. Egan we watched King Corn, which was similar in a lot of the facts that were shared. We learned about the monopoly of corn in the food industry, and a little bit about the monopoly Monsanto has over farmers, so I knew a little bit about the topics before I saw the movie - but that didn't make it any less upsetting to watch. Needless to say it might be a few years until I eat my next burger, and I'm just refusing to remember anything that might have been said about chickens.

I was really excited to write this blog, because over the weekend I've seen numerous facebook posts about marches and protests on Monsanto. There were Marches on Monsanto in 52 different countries on Saturday. The push in these marches was to require all GMOs (genetically modified organisms) to be labeled in food. There are people who believe that GMOs can be harmful to our health, and the people are protesting for the right to know what's in their food. As of right now the Food and Drug Administration does not require companies to label GMOs on their packages, but some states have passed legislation to make food companies label GMOs in their products - however the U.S. Senate has rejected a bill to allow states individually require the labeling of GMOs. (I'm not totally sure how these two things fit together, but that's what it said on the website) I think that Connecticut and Vermont might have passed the laws before the bill was rejected? Legal/political jargon - it's a bit over my head.

Anyways, it's a great thing that people are finally starting to get pro-active about what's in their food. Many other countries have in fact banned Monsanto and its seeds, and if the people are able to keep protesting and not purchasing foods with GMOs in them, we might be able to get the U.S. there too.