Tags
Activism, Forbes, Genetic engineering, Genetically modified food, Genetically modified organism, GMO, Idaho, Monsanto, politics, speaking out, taking sides, Washington DC
I missed a great deal of the excitement of the late 60’s. Though I was a bit young to be participating in sit-ins and demonstrations, I know plenty of people my age who partook of these activities. No, what held me back was indecision, lack of commitment. There is always so much self-righteousness involved in group marches and demonstrations. In the back of my mind there is always a little voice asking questions. These people are as sure of their facts as the other side is sure of their own facts. How can I be so sure of the facts I’m spouting?
Looking back on the history-making marches of my youth, I chastise myself for not participating. While I sat on the sidelines, look what the marches to Montgomery and to Washington DC accomplished! As an adult, I have tried to judiciously pick my causes and then to act on them with at least a bit of integrity. So when Dia, from The Odd and Unmentionable, alerted me to the upcoming world-wide march against Monsanto, I hauled myself out of my comfort zone and hovered at the edge of the gathering crowd at the park. This, at least, is a cause that I can get behind. Even Forbes magazine has come out against Monsanto!
When an organizer abruptly pushed a sign into my hands, I realized I couldn’t just hover any longer. I was in. During the half-mile walk to the Idaho Capitol Building, we marchers received good vibes from passing cars, horns blaring and hands waving in support. A bystander asked me what the flap was about. Somewhat stunned, I rattled off an inarticulate explanation about GMO seeds that fail to propagate, that may be filled with pesticides, that we should know when something we purchase to put into our bodies may contain GMO products . . .. She said, “I see I have some research to do.” Wow! I thought. Is it that easy? 
Another young couple asked us what Monsanto is. Really? You live in IDAHO, for fertilizer’s sake, and you don’t know what Monsanto is? How is that possible? But, there are people who don’t know what is going on. They don’t understand that genetic modification changes genes of an organism in ways not possible through traditional selective breeding. And so, this world-wide march is an important step in educating the population about what is happening, what profits drive giant corporations to behave in ways that potentially harm all humanity and the planet we live on.
Did I feel comfortable holding my Monsanto sign? Hell, no. I was plagued by the same distaste for group-think and hyperbole that inevitably invades these types of events. But I have to push my misgivings aside and look at the larger picture. It is a sad fact that our own country is woefully behind the rest of the developed world in managing and regulating the use of genetic engineering. We should be leading the world, instead we drag our feet and bow to the corporate giants that buy our politicians. As individuals, those of us with any choice in where and what we purchase can act on our own behalf. We can buy locally grown food from people we know. We can use our wallets to push the cause. Money talks.
Scitable, a collaborative learning space for science has a good discussion of genetic modification and its possible unintended consequences.
Rangewriter 
Geez, I thought you were talking about the carpet company!
LikeLike
Huh? Were you thinking Mohawk? Ummmm.
LikeLike
My daughter was just visiting and railing about GMO’s and their effects… citing cancer, infertility. I certainly do not trust the motives of companies like Monsanto. I wonder what other companies they own ?
I just checked a Government of Canada website and learned that the labelling of GMO foods is not required.
“Currently in Canada, labelling is mandatory if there is a health or safety issue with a food, which might be mitigated through labelling. For example, if the nutritional value or composition of the food has been changed, or if there is an allergen present in the food, the food must be labelled as such. In this situation, special labelling is required to alert consumers or susceptible groups in the population. This applies to all foods, including GM foods.”
“Under a standards committee established by the Canadian General Standards Board, a Canadian standard for voluntary labelling of GE foods entitled Voluntary Labelling and Advertising of Foods that Are and Are Not Products of Genetic Engineering was developed to address non-health and safety labelling (rather, labelling for method of production, for example, whether a food has or has not been produced through genetic engineering). ”
I am ALARMED. I naively ASSumed that we didn’t even sell GMO’s in Canada.
Thanks for the whack upside of my head. I needed to be awakened to this issue.
LikeLike
I thought Canada was way ahead of the US on things like GMO labeling. I see from the way the regulation is worded, there’s obfuscation going on. Why must they obfuscate, if indeed, there is nothing to be concerned about? Sorry to give you one more thing to worry about. Ugh.
LikeLike
Thanks for the coverage Linda. Damn. I wish I would have asked my MIL to postpone our outing…this is SO important. Another friend let me know that organizers put together a march up in Hailey, too. That makes FOUR marches in Idaho. Whoohoo!
LikeLike
Traveling through northern Idaho, I suspect there weren’t any up here!
LikeLike
I, too, have been woefully ignorant about the GMO issue. Thanks for the link. The entire world has given up its right to accurate nutrition information and its choice of products to monster-sized companies that seem to believe they can foist anything upon the consumer without need for permission, notice or regulation. We’ve become slaves to these monster industries. It’s so difficult to boycott any of them considering their reach. I’m glad that Forbes is involved. The rest of us need to get on board.
LikeLike
I’m not sure I’d say Forbes is “involved,” but one reporter who had supported GMO’s wrote a very conciliatory follow-up. It’s a start. I wonder if we are doomed by the sheer size of our culture, to a forever fight against large: large corporations, large politics, large wars, . . .
LikeLike
Good for you, Linda! Right on! I know how you felt in the younger days…I didn’t know what the facts were either. As you said, who was right?
Now that I have time to comb the facts, listen to both sides and confirm validity, I am so damned mad at what Monsanto has been able to shove down our throats! Was anyone awake? I sure wasn’t!
Thank you for getting out there. I bore my Face Book friends with constant info about the evil deeds that continue to happen.
LikeLike
As I said to SDS, I wonder if fighting “big” is the new paradigm for our large cultures. We wouldn’t do these types of things to each other. We can only behave this badly when we are cocooned inside the belly of a beast far larger than us, when we can abdicate personal responsibility. That is how big corporations and big politics are able to screw the citizenry.
LikeLike
Reblogged this on Volpe Life and commented:
❤ This!!
LikeLike