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Guys, this is
Guys, this is shocking, but it is WAY true. Did you know that scientists are trying to mate fish with potatoes? And they've already created a plant that's resistant to pesticides. And you know? No one can control pollen, to when the farmer's land next door to the pesticide-resistant plant gets the seeds everywhere and accidentally starts growing the already-pattoned plant. Then the farmer gets thrown in jail!!! For no reason at all. It was the other farmer's fault!!! Guys, we NEED to get the word out. This can't happen because illogical people are in charge. SOMETHING's got to happen!! Please reply!!!
submitted by Wolf, age 11(almost), Florida
(November 8, 2011 - 1:32 pm)
(November 8, 2011 - 1:32 pm)
Illogical GMOs: Yep. And, more disturbingly still, the people who sort out the GMO seeds from the normal seeds, thus not encroaching on the patently ridiculous patent problem ((heh heh, see what I did thar?)) tend to get blacklisted by the industry so they can't purchase new seed from the companies that make the GMOs. Further, commercially-grown corn (i.e. the pesticide resistant stuff Monsanto sells) is literally inedible until it has been processed (read: turned into high-fructose corn syrup). Said high-fructose corn syrup is in almost every product you can buy at a grocery store... and the process the corn goes through to make it is a mystery-shrouded recipe involving fun ingredients like hydrochloric acid.
In the words of Mr. Warembourg, "How do you like them apples?"
Oh, let's see, what else... Feeding a cow corn, as happens on factory farms, will make it grow exponentially faster than a grassfed cow... and also destroy its liver, royally mess up its marbling (fat-to-muscle ratios), and generally make it ready to keel over and die on its own by the time you truck it to the slaughter house. Feeding them the ground-up remains of dead chickens, another common factory farm practice, does not even bear commenting on.
The FDA has virtually no practical power against the commercial food industry. Million dollar fines every now and again mean nothing to corporations that make billions upon billions every year.
Et cetera, et cetera. The food industry is in a crises of terribly designed infrastructure held together by greed and shortcuts. No food is safe. Watch movies like Food, Inc. and King Corn and read Fast Food Nation and Omnivore's Dihlemma and be paranoid about food for the rest of your life.
(November 8, 2011 - 9:39 pm)
I had no idea, Wolf. And I'm too lazy to read all of TNO's post.
But thread, go to the top or BEWARE THE WRATH OF THE LOLLYPOP!!!!!!!
(November 11, 2011 - 9:10 pm)
TOP!!!!!!!!!!
(November 11, 2011 - 9:12 pm)
I don't really feel like writing about High-fructose corn syrup right now. It's disgusting. Also, so many people are now aware of it that companies can officially disguise it on their ingredients list by calling it "corn sugar." Until that becomes as farmiliar as its former name to the general public. My mom even wrote to BlueBell saying that she would like them to take it out of their recipe, and they responded saying it added a "special flavor" to the Homeade (BRAND) Vanilla (FLAVOR) ice cream. Ugh.
=^..^=
(November 12, 2011 - 5:00 pm)
Gah, Omnivore's Dilemma. I can't even.
(November 12, 2011 - 7:34 pm)
Well, I do know that the FDA is grossly incompetent. They'll allow anyone who pays them money to do all sorts of awful practices, but they'll outlaw stuff like selling raw milk, no matter how carefully produced it was. (Raw milk being non-pastuerized. Apparently they're required by law to nuke it, you can't even get it the way God made it. It loses so much nutrative value too!) On the upside, we only buy milk without growth hormones.
But yes, some things do not bear thinking about. Yut.
(November 13, 2011 - 12:10 am)
@TNO: I know, right? :(:(:( My parents think I'm paranoid because if they ask me if I want to go to McDonald's, I end up running around the house yelling "Factory farms....cow poo...pesticides...GAH!" When I told my cousins some of the stuff in one of their burgers, they laughed and said (and I quote): "That's what makes it taste good." X(
Another good book to get food (and marketing) paranoria off of is "Get Real"....I believe the author is Mara Rockcliff. *googles* Yep.
(November 13, 2011 - 8:08 am)
Truth is, that's NOT what makes it taste good. I had the best burger ever at this restaurant called "rainforest cafe". True to it's name, it's green-y and all that, but you can at least be sure that they use natural ingredients and all that stuff, right? It was vastly superior to... basically any other burger. I'm blaming it on lack of bizarre practices.
(November 13, 2011 - 5:36 pm)
Well, yes. Eating a cow that was dying of liver failure when it was slaughtered (as the ones that go into a McDonald's hamburger were as a result of their diet) will naturally not taste as good as a cow that was in its prime when it was slaughtered (as you would get in a range cow). It's like the difference between eating an overripe, week-old apple and a ripe, fresh-picked apple. Only that no one in their right minds would eat the former apple, but nearly everyone eats the cow with liver failure. :\
[Not that feeding a cow grain is automatically bad. The trick is to feed them grain the way one might feed a child dessert, i.e., every now and again as a special treat, after they've eaten a decent portion of food that is good for them. Doing so (to a cow) improves the muscle fat ratio and creates more even marbling, which does make the cow taste better, because uberlean meat like you get on, say, an elk (which is yummy, acutally) is not everyone's cup of tea. The trouble starts when you feed a cow nothing but grain, because they can't digest it properly and it becomes uberfatty, the meat ends up greasier, chewy, and bland. And then the liver gives out and they die.]
[[No I am not a steak snob at all, whatever gave you that impression? :P I lived in Wyoming, it's nae my fault.]]
(November 13, 2011 - 8:00 pm)
I saw a commercial for Monsanto the other day. Blegh.
(November 25, 2011 - 2:34 pm)
LOL! That's so awkward!
(November 25, 2011 - 8:35 pm)
Cows that go to places like McDonald's are fed with primarily corn which makes their intestinal track more accidic, promoting growth of e. colli. It gets into their manure and, due to their AWFUL living conditions, that gets onto their coats and then, once they've been slaughtered, into the meat. That KILLS PEOPLE! If the cows were fed grass, the e. colli wouldn't be a problem, but they are so concerned with how quickly they can fatten up their cows and how cheaply they can do it, they don't bother!!!
I watched Food, Inc.. I was grossed out by meat for months...
(November 26, 2011 - 8:36 pm)
EW! I AM NEVER EATING FROM MCDONALD'S AGAIN!
(December 1, 2011 - 6:40 pm)
I think, that at the very least, whenever that happens it makes it to the news.
(December 1, 2011 - 7:50 pm)