My husband and I saw Food Inc. To me, it is “must” viewing for every American. Not because it glimpses the horror that is the life of the factory farm animal in the United States but because it shows how our food, our sustenance, our “fuel” has been hijacked by the corporate machine.
It's not that I am anti-business. I am absolutely not. What I am against is a few owning most. Because when a few own most we get corruption, we get manipulation, we get monopoly.
Which is what is happening in our food production. Farmers are literally indentured servants – forced to get loans to provide the required CAFOs for the giants like Tyson, and then continuous mandated to revise filtration systems and overhaul the feeding apparatus to company mandates, going further and further in debt. If they refuse, the corporate giants pull their contracts, and they are left with nothing.
Monsanto has copyrights on seeds. Yes. That's right. Seeds. So when the farmers plant their crops, they are not allowed to gather the seeds following the harvest. Should they employ a seed cleaner (a massive machine that separates the seeds from the dirt and other matter after harvest – which by the way have been destroyed or requisitioned so that they are a very rare machine indeed) to gather the seeds for the next harvest, Monsanto or like corporations destroy them financially by bringing in their arsenal of big time law firms and burying them in legal debt.
Those that speak out about the horrendous conditions that they endure, that the animals endure, are silenced by having their livelihoods destroyed.
The corporations would not speak to the film maker. They would not allow any kind of tour of the facilities where OUR FOOD COMES FROM.
The film maker made it abundantly clear that the only way this exists is by perpetuating the “farm” myth. The green grass, the “happy” cows, the fresh air, the rolling hills, ma and pa farmer tending to the animals. Every package depicts this utopian scene and nothing could be farther from the truth.
We don't want to know.
We don't want to see.
It is easier to go to the grocery store and pick up those items without thinking about HOW it got there. If we have a family, if we work, if we are involved in our communities, we barely have time to get our basic household chores done without reading every label, without investigating every thing that we purchase. For crying out loud, isn't that what the FDA or USDA is for? Don't they have standards?
We have allowed it to get away from us. Our food has been hijacked and we have allowed it because we have been told that the highest standards have been met, and that it is good for us and that it has been geared to bring the highest quality at a cheaper price. And we are so terribly terribly busy. We are trying to work, to spend time with our friends and family, to get exercise, to do volunteer work, to be involved with our churches and neighbors. Animals that cannot process corn are being fed corn because it is highly subsidized and it is cheap. The fact that they cannot process the corn means that they are more susceptible to disease so they are pumped full of antibiotics. With the overuse of antibiotics comes the inevitable creation of super resistant bacteria and bugs.
And then we get to the incubator of deadly viruses and illnesses that are cultivated in the breeding ground that is intensive confinement. Thousands of animals stacked on top of each other, so packed together they can't move, cattle standing in mountains of their own waste, in buildings with no access to clean air, water, or anything that is considered natural in their environment or behavior, dead animals , diseased animals in with the living. How is it possible to NOT have deadly diseases, horribly debilitating viruses and bacteria flourishing in these cesspools?
The thing is, you don't have to be vegan, you don't even have to be a vegetarian. All you have to be is aware. You have to be vocal. You have to demand that your food, the food you put in your body will not be tainted. You have to buy local. You have to find out which retailers are purchasing food from ethical sources, from ranchers that feed their animals food that can be processed by the animals. You have to use your wallet to determine what will be supplied. If you demand it, it will be supplied. Remember that guy that was going to sue Nabisco for the transfat in Oreos? How they mocked him and talked about frivolous lawsuits? That guy got the media to take notice of trans fat, and its inherent adverse toll on the human body AND change occurred. Now, trans fat is a thing of the past. It takes all of us deciding to cut back a bit and buy things that are better for us. Sure, the dollar menu is tempting and when you have no money, it is impossible to pass up. But at what cost? What we need is alternatives. We need to make it happen for ourselves. Grassroots movements can create co-ops where local growers, local ranchers, local farmers can collectively bring their goods to the public.
But what you can do right now is this:
BUY LOCAL.
BUY FROM FARMERS MARKETS
BUY SEASONAL.
BUY HUMANELY RAISED, APPROPRIATELY FED ANIMAL PRODUCTS
and watch FOOD INC.
Contact your representatives. Tell them that want better oversight of our food supply. Demand it.
It's not that I am anti-business. I am absolutely not. What I am against is a few owning most. Because when a few own most we get corruption, we get manipulation, we get monopoly.
Which is what is happening in our food production. Farmers are literally indentured servants – forced to get loans to provide the required CAFOs for the giants like Tyson, and then continuous mandated to revise filtration systems and overhaul the feeding apparatus to company mandates, going further and further in debt. If they refuse, the corporate giants pull their contracts, and they are left with nothing.
Monsanto has copyrights on seeds. Yes. That's right. Seeds. So when the farmers plant their crops, they are not allowed to gather the seeds following the harvest. Should they employ a seed cleaner (a massive machine that separates the seeds from the dirt and other matter after harvest – which by the way have been destroyed or requisitioned so that they are a very rare machine indeed) to gather the seeds for the next harvest, Monsanto or like corporations destroy them financially by bringing in their arsenal of big time law firms and burying them in legal debt.
Those that speak out about the horrendous conditions that they endure, that the animals endure, are silenced by having their livelihoods destroyed.
The corporations would not speak to the film maker. They would not allow any kind of tour of the facilities where OUR FOOD COMES FROM.
The film maker made it abundantly clear that the only way this exists is by perpetuating the “farm” myth. The green grass, the “happy” cows, the fresh air, the rolling hills, ma and pa farmer tending to the animals. Every package depicts this utopian scene and nothing could be farther from the truth.
We don't want to know.
We don't want to see.
It is easier to go to the grocery store and pick up those items without thinking about HOW it got there. If we have a family, if we work, if we are involved in our communities, we barely have time to get our basic household chores done without reading every label, without investigating every thing that we purchase. For crying out loud, isn't that what the FDA or USDA is for? Don't they have standards?
We have allowed it to get away from us. Our food has been hijacked and we have allowed it because we have been told that the highest standards have been met, and that it is good for us and that it has been geared to bring the highest quality at a cheaper price. And we are so terribly terribly busy. We are trying to work, to spend time with our friends and family, to get exercise, to do volunteer work, to be involved with our churches and neighbors. Animals that cannot process corn are being fed corn because it is highly subsidized and it is cheap. The fact that they cannot process the corn means that they are more susceptible to disease so they are pumped full of antibiotics. With the overuse of antibiotics comes the inevitable creation of super resistant bacteria and bugs.
And then we get to the incubator of deadly viruses and illnesses that are cultivated in the breeding ground that is intensive confinement. Thousands of animals stacked on top of each other, so packed together they can't move, cattle standing in mountains of their own waste, in buildings with no access to clean air, water, or anything that is considered natural in their environment or behavior, dead animals , diseased animals in with the living. How is it possible to NOT have deadly diseases, horribly debilitating viruses and bacteria flourishing in these cesspools?
The thing is, you don't have to be vegan, you don't even have to be a vegetarian. All you have to be is aware. You have to be vocal. You have to demand that your food, the food you put in your body will not be tainted. You have to buy local. You have to find out which retailers are purchasing food from ethical sources, from ranchers that feed their animals food that can be processed by the animals. You have to use your wallet to determine what will be supplied. If you demand it, it will be supplied. Remember that guy that was going to sue Nabisco for the transfat in Oreos? How they mocked him and talked about frivolous lawsuits? That guy got the media to take notice of trans fat, and its inherent adverse toll on the human body AND change occurred. Now, trans fat is a thing of the past. It takes all of us deciding to cut back a bit and buy things that are better for us. Sure, the dollar menu is tempting and when you have no money, it is impossible to pass up. But at what cost? What we need is alternatives. We need to make it happen for ourselves. Grassroots movements can create co-ops where local growers, local ranchers, local farmers can collectively bring their goods to the public.
But what you can do right now is this:
BUY LOCAL.
BUY FROM FARMERS MARKETS
BUY SEASONAL.
BUY HUMANELY RAISED, APPROPRIATELY FED ANIMAL PRODUCTS
and watch FOOD INC.
Contact your representatives. Tell them that want better oversight of our food supply. Demand it.
Comments