You know the one thing that separates humans from all other creepy-crawlies on planet
Earth? We’re the only ones that actually grow food to feed ourselves and others.
In fact, historians have long argued that the development of agriculture made civilization possible in the first place.
From ploughing and irrigating fields, to harvesting and rotating crops, from using fertilizers to make food grow faster and healthier, to using pesticides to keep harmful insects away from our food… all these are things that we’ve done for over 10,000 years.
But it’s in the past century that we’ve become really good at these things. To feed more and more people, we’ve turned more and more land into agricultural land, used more potent fertilizers and pesticides, started growing cash crops (or crops that are good for selling to other people who don’t grow those crops themselves).
We now mess around with the genes of our plants to get them to do specific things that they won’t normally do on their own. We even use heavy machinery for growing crops that can be used as biofuels to run all that heavy machinery.
In fact, historians have long argued that the development of agriculture made civilization possible in the first place.
From ploughing and irrigating fields, to harvesting and rotating crops, from using fertilizers to make food grow faster and healthier, to using pesticides to keep harmful insects away from our food… all these are things that we’ve done for over 10,000 years.
But it’s in the past century that we’ve become really good at these things. To feed more and more people, we’ve turned more and more land into agricultural land, used more potent fertilizers and pesticides, started growing cash crops (or crops that are good for selling to other people who don’t grow those crops themselves).
We now mess around with the genes of our plants to get them to do specific things that they won’t normally do on their own. We even use heavy machinery for growing crops that can be used as biofuels to run all that heavy machinery.
If you talk to someone who sells big farm equipment, potent pesticides, and Genetically-Engineered
seeds (chances are, they’re all from the same company), they’ll tell you: “GE food
is the solution to world hunger!”
It’s a potent and seductive story. Except it isn’t true.
Millions of tons of food – the solution to world hunger – rots in godowns even as you read this. Now, if India is producing a surplus of food day after day, why is it that people are still going to bed hungry night after night? It’s because they haven’t the money to buy any food in the first place, and not because they haven’t access to GE food.
And yet, a powerful mafia of government officials, in bed with agrochemical and biotech giants, is going behind our backs, over our heads and against our interests to force untested and hazardous GE crops down this country’s throat.
What’s in it for them? Money, of course. What’s in it for you? A cocktail of potential health problems, infertility being just one of them.
It’s a potent and seductive story. Except it isn’t true.
Millions of tons of food – the solution to world hunger – rots in godowns even as you read this. Now, if India is producing a surplus of food day after day, why is it that people are still going to bed hungry night after night? It’s because they haven’t the money to buy any food in the first place, and not because they haven’t access to GE food.
And yet, a powerful mafia of government officials, in bed with agrochemical and biotech giants, is going behind our backs, over our heads and against our interests to force untested and hazardous GE crops down this country’s throat.
What’s in it for them? Money, of course. What’s in it for you? A cocktail of potential health problems, infertility being just one of them.
Whether you’re a vegetarian or eat meat, here are a few things you can start doing
right away.
Eat local. When you eat food that’s grown locally, you know it’s fresh and hasn’t been pumped up with preservatives to keep it artificially fresh while it travels long distances.
Eat organic. When you eat food that’s grown organically, you stay protected from all the harmful chemicals that go into food in the form of industrial pesticides and fertilizers.
Eat seasonal. It doesn’t make sense to eat apples in summer or mangoes in winter. Why? Because they have to be shipped halfway around the world, from places where they are in season, to places where they are out of season.
Buy your food from a sabzi-mandi instead of a supermarket. The less packaging your food has, the less fuel has been burned to bring it from the field to your fridge.
And finally, the next time someone tells you that GE food is good for you, ask them who’s paying them to say it, and tell them to read this website.
Eat local. When you eat food that’s grown locally, you know it’s fresh and hasn’t been pumped up with preservatives to keep it artificially fresh while it travels long distances.
Eat organic. When you eat food that’s grown organically, you stay protected from all the harmful chemicals that go into food in the form of industrial pesticides and fertilizers.
Eat seasonal. It doesn’t make sense to eat apples in summer or mangoes in winter. Why? Because they have to be shipped halfway around the world, from places where they are in season, to places where they are out of season.
Buy your food from a sabzi-mandi instead of a supermarket. The less packaging your food has, the less fuel has been burned to bring it from the field to your fridge.
And finally, the next time someone tells you that GE food is good for you, ask them who’s paying them to say it, and tell them to read this website.
