(MintPress) – Genetically modified food is permeating the market, accounting for 80 percent of the produce found at an average American grocery store. Without national labeling guidelines, there’s no way for a consumer to decipher which food is — and which food isn’t — the product of genetically modified crops, created to absorb exorbitant amounts of herbicide and pesticides.
Doesn’t the American consumer have the right to know? Not according to companies that profit from the creation and sale of genetically modified seeds.
Monsanto, the country’s largest generator of genetically modified seeds and crops, has been actively engaged in fighting measures that would mandate labeling, providing an opportunity for consumers to put down items with the GMO (genetically modified organism) label.
The only way to truly be sure food purchased at the supermarket isn’t genetically modified is to buy certified organic. Sales within the organic industry grew 16.5 percent from 2000 to 2010, while only growing 3.25 percent in the general market, representing the general concern among Americans.
A measure presented to California voters in November would have required labeling on all food. More than $25 million was spent on advertisements against the ballot initiative, with Monsanto pulling away as the largest donor. It was joined by Kellogg, General Mills, Hormel and a number of other food-related businesses that would be impacted.
In March, Americans nationwide presented a petition for GMO labeling to the Federal Drug Administration (FDA), but were not given a response. It could have something to do with the current adviser for the FDA, Michael Taylor, who worked as Monsanto’s vice president before his appointment by President Barack Obama in 2009.
The battle of the consumer against the GMO giant has led to a sustainable farming movement throughout the U.S., with more than 18,000 community gardens operating throughout the country and a re-emergence of the commercial local organic farm model — one that economists say has a bright future.
A 2011 Department of Agriculture study indicated sales in local farming movements hit upward of $4.8 billion in 2011 — and the momentum isn’t likely to fade.
As a Microsoft manager turned organic farmer told the New York Times in 2012, “The future is local.”
GMO dangers
What’s the big fuss about a push for GMO labeling and a desire for local, organic food?
Calls for genetically modified labeling stem from studies and lawsuits that have linked Monsanto genetically modified foods with various illnesses and diseases, including cancer. The implications of the practice taking over the American food market is alarming to those paying attention.
Monsanto’s corn seed was temporarily banned in France in May, following a study by the nation’s leading scientists that found a direct link between the GMO seed and cancer. Rats used in the study that were fed Monsanto’s genetically modified corn, which is designed to tolerate extreme amounts of RoundUp weed killer, died earlier and more frequently than rats not given the corn. The two-year study saw rats fed the Monsanto corn dying at a rate 2-3 more times than those not fed the corn.
That specific corn seed is used widely in the United States — and consumers have no way of discovering if the corn they buy at the grocery store stems from Monsanto’s super seed. Chances are, however, it is.
Just as corn is by no means the only genetically modified seed Monsanto distributes, this is not the only health-related accusation the company faces.
In 1986, Monsanto lost a $108 million lawsuit to a former Texas chemical processor who was exposed to benzene while working for the company. He died at age 53 due of leukemia. The lawsuit alleged that Wilbur Jack Skeen had been denied workers compensation, and that his predecessors on the job had fallen to the same fate. Monsanto, of course, had initially denied the link.
Monsanto settled in February with a West Virginia community that served as the site for Agent Orange production in the 1950s to 1960s, a chemical created by Monsanto that has now been linked to widespread neurological disorders. Used in the Vietnam war to destroy the habitat (foliage) for opposition forces, the U.S. used the chemical in a widespread fashion, spraying an estimated 20 million gallons. More than 500,000 Vietnam veterans died between 2000 and 2007 — 60 percent of whom died before reaching the age of 60.
The U.S. government has since acknowledged the link between Monsanto’s Agent Orange and high rates of death, cancer and neurological disorders. To this date, it has provided $16 billion in compensation for veterans exposed to Agent Orange. This, however, did not come until 1991, nearly two decades after exposure.
With this trend of alarm, it’s reasonable to assume that forward-thinking programs geared at sustainable ways of living would be the wave of new education, especially when America is turning its focus to health, seemingly, through new initiatives in public schools — but that doesn’t seem to be the case.
“The company’s history with some of the most toxic chemicals ever produced illustrates why they can’t be trusted,” author Jeffrey Smith said in a review of the movie, “The World According to Monsanto.”
Creating change through education
It’s statistics and links like those uncovered through the history of genetically modified products that have driven sustainable farming, inspiring everyday Americans to become engaged in local food movements.
The movements are characterized by urban farming, which has sprouted up in major cities throughout the U.S. in the last five years. In 2011, the Chicago City Council approved urban farming without limitations, allowing urban dwellers to create gardens without regulation relating to size. According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), 15 percent of the world’s food is created in urban garden settings.
Restaurants, too, have hopped on the bandwagon, with organizations like the Wisconsin Restaurant Association serving as a link between local, organic farmers and restaurants. The USDA cites it as a main market for the growing small-scale organic farm movement.
That’s what prompted one Minnesota college to create a Sustainable Foods program three years ago. The award-winning, one-year program attracted students from around the country from Ivy league schools, including Harvard.
Yet just a few months ago, program director Dr. Sue Wika received a phone call from the Minnesota State Community and Technical College administration informing her that this year would be the program’s last.
The reason given by the administration was a decline in enrollment. The small program was down a few students, but Wika said she was not made aware that the entire program was in danger of elimination.
Clearly, the focus of those who made the decision is not one of environmental priorities. When the program was created, that was the case. Previously, the college had engaged in the American College and University President’s Climate Commitment. Current administration officials have referred to it as a program “relevant as antique clock repair.”
So, why is that? Wika said they’re not looking at the growing sustainable farming movement throughout the nation, failing to acknowledge the Minnesota program is on the cutting edge of the food movement.
“The administration at Minnesota State Community and Technical College was very excited about sustainability initiatives, and had signed on to a regional, perhaps it was a national, climate control commitment. This program kind of just got swept in with the excitement about doing something like that,” Wika said. “So the administration was two thumbs up, full speed ahead.”
Yet that doesn’t seem to be the case anymore, as a new administration has moved in, abandoning the green-friendly initiatives that were once a priority.
Zachary Paige is just one of the students concerned about the program’s fate. Paige, an AmeriCorps worker, enrolled in the program this year to gain the knowledge and hands-on experience needed to accomplish his goals on the White Earth Indian Reservation.
Paige works with internationally-known Indigenous rights activist Winona LaDuke, who is also the director of Honor the Earth, a national program designed to advocate for native environmental organizations.
His main duties include not only creating community gardens on the reservation, but also teaching the local population how to maintain sustainable farming on the reservation. Aside from the environmental benefits of sustainable farming, the new model also seeks to create healthier residents, who suffer high rates of diabetes. Paige says the knowledge he gained through the program assisted him in carrying out the mission.
Helene Murray, executive director of the Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture, told MintPress she was surprised to learn the program had been suspended, as well, claiming it was held with high acclaim among those in the field.
“The beauty of the Fergus Falls program was that it was a hands-on program, and that was something that was lacking in a lot of the academic institutions,” Murray said.
Paige says the program in Minnesota is unique and forward-thinking — ahead of the curve, perhaps. Speculating on the matter, Paige indicated that the administration might not be used to an abstract program that generates graduates who go into alternative fields.
Job placement is measured with many different scenarios and statistics, as graduates go on to use their education to manage community gardens, they take on projects that cannot be measured with the same criteria as someone who graduates with a degree in business.
To show support for the program, a petition has been created at change.org, highlighting the need for programs that once again connect consumers with their food.
“This program gives students the knowledge and skills necessary to meet the many agricultural and environmental challenges facing food production in the 21st century. Students will emerge at the forefront of this critical subject and will be prepared to grow food themselves or contribute to the country and the world as innovative problem solvers and catalysts for positive change in this new paradigm of food production,” the petition states.
It goes on to address the big issue — whether the college is making money through the program, highlighting a concern many have counteracted with the argument that its national recognition has served an asset to the entire college system.
“In addition to practical agricultural curriculum, the program includes courses in sociology to assist students in understanding the cultural and community aspects of sustainable food production,” the petition states. “The M State administration has decided to ‘suspend’ this program at the end of its third year because it’s not making the college money yet (except for the publicity and community it’s been building).”
Those signing the petition have ranged from environmental activists to local farmers, who have seen the benefit of having programs designed to take the attention away from factory farms — and put it back on community farming operations.
Wika had been constantly encouraged through the program through the support of community members and people who seemed to really get it — they understood the need to invest once again in sustainable agriculture, not just for the community’s financial state, but for the health of local citizens. And considering they were one of the few programs geared toward the study, she felt they were on the cutting edge of a necessary educational system.
Now, she’s hoping the administration will reinstate the program in upcoming years, recognizing the value it has had in the lives of many who have been touched by graduates who have left and contributed to the world.
Is there a future with sustainable agriculture?
With 18,000 community gardens located through the U.S., and expectations of more continuing to be created and transformed, it’s likely that such gardens will evolve beyond the hobbies of those living in such neighborhoods.
Seen as a viable source of food, free from genetic modification and produced without fees associated with transportation (and environmental and monetary expenses for petroleum), the role of the community garden will continue to move beyond hobby farms and into small commercial enterprises.
Courtney Tchida is the student program director for the Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture (MISA), working with students pursuing a minor in sustainable agriculture at the University of Minnesota. In 2005, the majority of students adding sustainable agriculture as a minor were those majoring in horticulture or environmental science. Now, Tchida says students with a wide variety of majors, including marketing and business, are taking on the minor — simply because they’re interested.
“They’re people interested in food and having that connection to the food and where it comes from,” she said in an interview with MintPress News.
Aside from enthusiasm, Tchida has tracked where graduates have gone on to, including those who took on the sustainable agriculture program as graduate students.
“It’s kind of fascinating,” she said. “A lot of people who are involved are either in business related to food and farming, or they’re working on policy angles with nonprofits.”
The variety of markets available for those equipped with sustainable agriculture knowledge is only growing. Urban farms, including C’est Naturelle, in Oregon City, Ore. opened a local shop that offers community members essentially everything one would need for a well-rounded diet. Eggs, beef, butter and vegetables are available — and it’s all local, organic and GMO free. It’s a hit — and it’s catching on throughout the nation, creating new job opportunities.
The University of Minnesota program will likely upgrade the minor to a major within the next few years, citing the demand and interest among those seeing a career in a field that, by all accounts, is growing.