It’s becoming common knowledge that the United States is the fattest country in the world and among the unhealthiest. Today, for example, nearly one out of every three Americans is obese. It’s chillingly ironic that the most economically powerful country in the world is brought to its knees by unhealthy eating habits and poor lifestyle, and that despite having the largest military establishment, one in four Americans are turned away from service because they are “too heavy.”
Today, although many Americans are beginning to raise awareness about obesity and change their lifestyle, the fact remains that chronic illnesses are continuing to grow at an incredible rate, even leading it to be highlighted as a national security issue.
What is causing this? Are there any direct correlations? Is it that we are eating too much, or does it have to do with what it is we are eating? Furthermore, is obesity the only problem, or do health risks run much deeper?
Our story starts with Monsanto, a multinational agricultural biotechnology corporation.
Monsanto
Monsanto was founded in 1901 in St. Louis , Missouri, and has had an interesting history. Perhaps most notably, Monsanto was one of many manufacturers of Agent Orange, an herbicide used in Vietnam and later discovered to be the root cause of thousands of birth defects.
Predictably, the company has worked hard to shake off the images associated with Agent Orange. For example, anyone traveling to Monsanto’s website will first encounter this quote: “If there were one word to explain what Monsanto is about, it would have to be farmers.” While the quote certainly is positive and great for business, it hardly captures the breadth of Monsanto, its true interests, or the business it’s engaged in.
In brief, Monsanto is an agricultural biotechnology corporation, which basically means it genetically modifies food/plant commodities (corn, soy, canola, and cotton) worldwide: hence the acronym GMO, meaning genetically modified organisms. Essentially, Monsanto makes plants both more likely to survive herbicide spraying, as well as produce their own pesticides. Supposedly, this is to lead to bigger yields, to reduce need for herbicides, and to increase nutrition. Many watchdog groups like the Alliance for Bio-Integrity question these claims, and point to insufficient research to back them.
Today, Monsanto has a hand in creating over half of the country’s food and produce supply.
Genetically Modified Food and Health
So what does this have to do with obesity? The answer lies in the fact that GMOs are constructed by science, not nature, and that many of the products that come from GMOs aren’t recognized as digestible food by our bodies’ intestinal systems. The result is a startling increase in the link between GMO food introduction and a massive rise in food allergies, obesity, diabetes, and other food-related diseases.
Even though the US has the largest production of genetically modified foods, it wasn’t always that way. GMOs didn’t even make it to the commercial scene until 1996. Back then, times were better, and the genetically modified food industry was in its infant stage of booming.
In that same year, under 100 million Americans had a chronic illness. Today, however, about half the population (nearly 150 million) suffers from at least one chronic illness. Perhaps more frightening, from 1996 to 2005, people with three or more chronic illnesses went from seven to 13 percent, and have since then continued to grow. From 1996 to 2010, food allergies have more than doubled along with food related illnesses, and autism is growing steadily along with diabetes.
While there is no specific source for these unprecedented growths, there are a few strong correlations, and one of these has to do with our story: genetically modified foods. 1996 was the year GMOs became highly commercial, and 1996 was the year disease and illness rates began to skyrocket. In light of this, as well as the low yield, pesticide demanding nature of GMO crops (both faults that companies like Monsanto argue opposites), over 30 countries have banned genetically engineered crops.
Regardless of the moral dilemma of cloned or modified foods, there is a deeper, much more significant problem: lack of scientific assurance. According to 44,000 court-seized documents from a 1999 lawsuit against the FDA, government scientists (when tasked with developing a policy on GMOs in 1992) urged their superiors to require rigorous testing on GMOs before they were put on market. To the FDA scientists, GMOs were inherently unsafe and incredibly prone to facilitate the development of food allergies and food borne illnesses. The fear was that GMOs produce toxins the body is not used to, and could subsequently cause hard-to-detect (let alone trace) effects.
Quite simply, the best and brightest minds in science were ignored, and the FDA – then under the review of Michael Taylor (ex-attorney of Monsanto, and the then “soon to be” Vice President) – declared the policy that no testing was necessary, and genetically modified food was no different from regular food.
This was a blatant disregard for science and a corporate infiltration of government. Unbelievably, this fraud slid by media with little attention.
The Result and the Solution
Today we find ourselves in a country where 38 states have over 20% obesity rates, a statistic that was unimaginable 20 years ago, when not a single state had such a rate.
Although correlation does not always equal causation, the most radical change in human eating habits has just taken place and it would be in ignorance to ignore that. To Jeffery Smith, author of Seeds of Deception
To solve this, one easily solution is to avoid all foods that have GMOs. Unfortunately, companies like Monsanto have strong-armed government and prevented GMO labeling, and with nearly 75 percent of the food we eat everyday containing some kind of GMO, it seems to be a big task to undertake.
Still, there are solutions and options. An organic or even raw food diet, free of GMO crops, is the best solution. To organic farmers, the science behind growing is easy: good soil means good crops, which means healthy people and healthy animals. It’s really that simple. The best thing for you to do is to buy Non-GMO products (some brands list this like Naked Juice), start your own organic garden, and shop at your farmers market. Don’t be afraid to ask your local farmers if they use GMOs; the most powerful way to beat back this invasion of health is through consumer demand.
For more information, travel to SayNoToGMOs.org. For an interesting article on the compatibility of GMO and organic farming, see “Ten good reasons why GMOs are not compatible with organic agriculture” by Jim Riddle.
September 15, 2010 at 5:09 pm
Great article! but would’ve been even better if it’d gone into detail re: the horrific effects of GMO foods on our bodies, as well as our planet!! Sterility and Cancer are two Biggies!! not to mention, the fact that it overwhelms our livers and causes tumors to grow on the liver! leading to overall inflammation!! these seeds also do not reproduce on their own; therefore, farmers in 3rd world countries are going broke rebuying seeds each yr!! And Monsanto’s behind a bunch of 1984 type bills calling for the illegalization of backyard gardens!!! How can such a basic right as growing one’s own food be illegal??!! this corporation is one of the greediest, most evil entities on the planet as far as I’m concerned!! Monsanto should be illegalized!!
September 16, 2010 at 5:16 pm
I live in a small community where there are no Whole Foods store so I have to depend on what little there is to pick from in the organic section at Giant. What can people like me do to stop poisoning yourself? What can each of us do to stop the production of GMOs? This is really scary stuff and I for one hate feeling powerless. How can we stop the manufacture of GMOs? When the saying mas made up the money is the root of all evil that was quite and understatement.
September 17, 2010 at 1:05 am
Well-informed article. There’s some big news this week concerning Monsanto too. A U.S. District Court Judge ruled this week that the USDA must begin the process of regulating the company’s GE sugar beets, which may prove to lead to bigger and better regulation.
Thanks for spreading the knowledge!
September 19, 2010 at 4:15 pm
I am a retired farmer and would like to bring one interesting fact to light. Farming in N.D. I grew dry land corn.I dried all my crops with a grain dryer to speedup harvest. And of course there is always grains that are spilled on the ground during harvest..Deer would always find their way into the dryer site to enjoy the spilled grains.. The one and only year i dried GMO corn something strange happened.. The Deer would not eat any of the spilled corn. This was a Red Flag to me.. Something not natural was being rejected by the wildlife. An uneducated animal knew that the corn was not edible.Time for us to wake up and stop kidding ourselves that our government is looking out for us.
September 22, 2010 at 5:03 am
Excellent article. The Future of Food is an amazing, jaw dropping documentary about the stronghold Monsanto has on World food production. We must all speak out, expose & demand GMO Labeling of ALL foods. We as a nation are innocently participating in a huge science experiment & are paying a very high price for it. At this time the FDA is considering allowing GMO Salmon, what’s next? Pretty soon we will be GMO People as well!
Another scary industry that flys “under the radar” so to speak is the cosmetics & personal care industry. In Europe over 1300 different harmful chemicals are banned from being used in personal care products but here in the U.S. only 100 of those chemicals are banned & the labeling laws do not require companies to list every ingredient either! Press is paying some attention but companies will not take the time or expense to reformulate a cheap product that is again costing us our health! Thanks for being a voice. I truely believe that we make more noise with our money than any other way. If we buy organic & toxin free the companies will be forced to listen!
April 27, 2011 at 6:50 pm
I’m glad that people are talking about this more. Now for people to take steps towards self-sustainability. You can eat organically for free by growing your own food. It’s as simple as poking a couple holes in the bottom of an empty yogurt container, put in some organic soil, and pop in a plant or a seed, water, place in the sunlight and watch her grow. There are companies out there like groOrganic that will actually come plant an organic garden in your yard and even take care of it for you. There are many things that you can do to eat safer, healthier foods and it begins with learning about what you’re really eating when you buy from the store.
July 11, 2011 at 4:08 am
Monsanto is also the company that created the popular artificial sweetener called Nutrasweet which is a powerful neurotoxin. Once synthesized by the body it turns into formaldehyde!! Supposedly this neurotoxin will also kill insects if they ingest it! Frightening! We can starve Monsanto by growing backyard gardens, community gardens, etc. Purchase seeds from companies who are establishing seed banks like ‘Seeds of Change’. And refuse to back down or comply with illegal, unconstitutional laws banning backyard gardens!!!
August 3, 2011 at 12:44 pm
As an organic consumer and farmer I am deeply concerned about large corporations like Monsanto taking over so much of the global seed industry while at the same time large food corporations are gobbling up chunks of the organic food market – such as Mars Corp buying Seeds of Change. Check out these two charts, they tell a very interesting and alarming story: Global Seed Industry Structure – http://www.msu.edu/%7Ehowardp/seedindustry.html and the Who Owns Organic chart – http://www.msu.edu/%7Ehowardp/organicindustry.html.
We must find a way to stop this corporate take-over of the seed supplies of the world and the corporate involvement in the organic sector and organic standards organization which is aimed at diluting the OMRI standard so as to make it meaningless.
October 23, 2011 at 4:27 am
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March 21, 2012 at 11:16 am
Thank you. This was a very thorough and informative article. I shared this on my Facebook page that is associated with my blog, http://lovestronglivenowlaughoften.wordpress.com/ aka Boob is just Bob with an “O”.