Presidential Primaries: All Entertainment, No Food Safety
Take action with Food & Water Watch to stop genetically engineered food.
The presidential primaries currently underway have provided vast entertainment but precious little policy substance on issues that effect people daily. Over the course of what feels like thousands of hours of debates, I don’t recall a single question about the safety of our food. There have been many questions touching on the problem of imported energy but nothing on imported food with its growing safety problems. Where are the questions about the shrinking number of farmers combined with the ballooning number of factory farms with their widespread use of antibiotics and other drugs as well as the unprecedented pollution they generate? And what about the unanswered health questions (largely because they are not being asked in public forums) surrounding the rapid rise of genetically modified foods?
Food & Water Watch is working on many fronts to tackle all of these issues, and one thing you can do is to tell your friends about the specific issue of genetically modified foods. Please help spread the word by sending this petition to people you know. The more people who are concerned and vocal, the more likely we are to check the willy-nilly spread of under-tested frankenfoods. If you want to get even more involved, you can attend or start a meeting in your community, to move us closer to a better food system.
If you think that the government agencies tasked with ensuring the safety of our food can resist industry pressure, then you should know that this past week that the USDA approved a plan to let poultry factory farms inspect themselves. One barn with up to 35,000 birds pumped with chemicals is already a recipe for filth and disease and we need more government oversight, not less. Without your voice and that of your fellow Americans, we can’t reverse the trends that are turning our everyday food supply into an unwholesome stew of chemicals, filth and genetic mystery.
Parting thoughts:
One person CAN make a difference. Ecosalon names Food & Water Watch board chair Maude Barlow one of ten women to watch. Maude says: “Do not listen to those who say there is nothing you can do to the very real and large social and environmental issues of our time.” Absolutely.
Until next week,
Lane Brooks
Chief Operating Officer
Food & Water Watch
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