Modified Food Articles

Slaughter, Louise. "What's in Your Christmas Ham?." Huffington Post. (2011): n. page. Web. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-louise-slaughter/whats-in-your-christmas-ham_b_1165298.html?view=print&comm_ref=false>.
 

LeVaux, Ari. "The Very Real Danger of Genetically Modified Foods." Atlantic. (2012): n. page. Web. <http://www.theatlantic.com/health/print/2012/01/the-very-real-danger-of-genetically-modified-foods/251051/>.
 

Malone, Andrew. "The GM Genocide." MailOnline. (2008): n. page. Web. <http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1082559/The-GM-genocide-Thousands-Indian-farmers-committing-suicide-using-genetically-modified-crops.html>.

Summary:

In the first article, rep. Louise Slaughter talks about how our “Christmas ham” and other meat products we eat contained bacteria that is resistant to the common methods we use to fight them such as antibiotics. This is because animal farmers use these antibiotics not only on sick animals, but on healthy animals as well. As the bacteria get more exposed to antibiotics, it begins to adapt and change so that it can survive against the antibiotic we use to kill it, therefore becoming resistant. This poses a threat because if this resistant strain infects humans, then the traditional means used to fight the infection won’t work because of the immunity the bacteria has developed by being over-exposed to the antibiotic.

The second article talks about genetically modified (GM) crops that are being engineered in a way where they will combat natural predators such as the insects that feed on said plants. The benefit of this is that it will allow these GM crops to survive, but this has potential health risks as well.

The GM genocide tells the story of how GM seeds were introduced to the farmers in rural India and its relation to the rise in suicide rates due to increasing debt from purchasing GM seeds which then produced negligible yield.

Analysis:

For the first article, I can see the importance of making sure the animals are healthy, because it’s better for them and also makes sure the meat produced is bacteria free as well. The one farmer in the article realized the importance of not over-treating with antibiotics when he contracted the same disease as his pigs and the antibiotics typically used for treatment were ineffective. It is unfortunate in a way that he had to get the disease and find out the hard way about antibiotic resistant bacteria in order to change his ways and how others may not change their methods until they have a similar experience.

The way these GM crops kill the insects is by altering their genes in a way where it shuts down essential processes the insect’s need to survive. The problem is that there are genes that are similar in both insects and humans. If this modified MiRNA survives the insect’s digestive system and makes its way into a human host, then similar genes may be shut down in humans and could lead to the same detrimental effects that have been seen in insects. Monsanto also gives a lot of excuses as to why their products don’t need to be tested. If they didn’t have anything to hide then they shouldn’t mind testing on their products. This shows that they care more for their profits than for the health of their consumers. Advancements in this field would hopefully yield a way to enhance crops and ward of insects while not affecting humans in a negative way.

In the GM genocide, the providers of the GM seeds used aggressive marketing tactics and false advertising to convince farmers in rural India to use these significantly more expensive seeds when in fact this area was used as a testing ground to see how and if GM seeds would work. Farmers were promised much greater yields and that they would be saving on the cost of pesticides if they used these more expensive seeds. The GM seed producers only cared about their profits and did not consider that if their seeds failed, then these farmers would lose everything and be left with nothing but large debts. This testing area then became known as the ‘suicide belt’ because of the high rate of farmers who killed themselves after being victims of these GM seeds. It is nice to see that this has gotten the attention of such a prominent figure such as Prince Richard who sympathizes with these farmers and their plight and is trying to do something to help them and helping the movement to get back to using organic seeds.