Organic Morality by Rick Weller, Founder of Organically Done Plant Products
We all have the need to vent occasionally and this is one of those times for me. I spent the weekend with a group of pretty informed folks and we talked about politics, economics, the environment and yes, some less serious things – basically‘ what’ s going on in the world’ stuff. Most everyone knew about the George Zimmerman / Trayvon Martin trial, that the Tigers are in first place and that Kim Kardashian just had her first baby. There were a lot of blank stares when I brought up topics like GMO food products and honeybee colony collapse. I was a bit surprised given the importance of these issues.
Comments I heard this past weekend...
•“... if the government allows all of those pesticides on the shelves, they must be safe...”
•“... why would farmers plant GM crops if they weren’ t safe...”
•“... I can’ t tell food companies what to put in their products...”
•“... there’ s not much I can do about global warming...”
So, here are some facts you may not know
• 95 % of genetically modified seeds( GMO’ s) are planted so that farmers can spray pesticides on their fields without killing the crops. This has led to an increase in pesticide use, a dramatic increase in livestock deformities and stillbirths, previously unknown proteins in our food supplies and, many people believe, an increase in human health issues. There are NO studies proving that GMO’ s are safe.
• Chemical fertilizers and pesticides contaminate our water supplies, are significant contributors to greenhouse gases, remain for decades in our soils and are absorbed by many of the world’ s insect population. These chemicals are found in almost every corner of the globe.
• Chemical companies( like Monsanto) and major food companies( like Kellogg’ s) lobby to prevent requirements for labeling foods containing GMO ingredients- their rationale is that it would cost too much to change labels( funny,
18
JULY 2013 | cm publications