I formally congratulate our President Elect Obama and everyone involved for making this moment in our history a reality. I am not typically an emotional person. This makes my outburst of euphoric surprise (and happiness) as momentous as the magical seed of hope now planted inside me. When "possibility" manages to evict "cynicism" from an otherwise cemented mind, what is one supposed to do? I don't know about you, but I've taken the proactive roll of joining this community ( I am the ultimate anti-social type, so this is a big deal) and exercise my given right to protect my country and those I love through the power of free speech and information. So if the soapbox fits, I'm challenging everyone to wear it and join in on my concerns as well as fill the gaps in places I need informing.
Now on to business!
The media water cooler is vibrating from all the names being thrown about for Obama's cabinet. Now, I may not be able to add a juicy name to the pot yet, but I do know the criteria I feel must be followed in order for Obama's promises of an energy independent, strong economic and healthy nation to come to fruition. My first area of concern - agriculture,the safety of our food supply and the possibility of Tom Vilsack becoming our next Secretary of Agriculture.
Why?
Let's start with Tom Vilsack. He advocates genetically engineered crops and energy-intensive agricultural practices while toting an agenda for the United States to reduce its energy dependence on foreign countries and cutting our carbon. These are contradicting dogmas that cannot function together. Energy-intensive agriculture requires massive amounts of petroleum products. Everything from the machinery to the fertilizer. This type of agricultural practice not only strips the soil of nutrients and makes the land vulnerable to erosion (think of the dust bowl, but makes it impossible for farmers to make it without government subsidies. Our average commercial wheat grower loses 5 cents per bushel. Not to mention that the nutritional quality of our food and soil are degrading from one season to the next. If we are going to get away from being a petroleum dependent nation, such inefficient and costly practices must change over to what the organic and sustainable methods are providing in yield, nutritional quality and energy use.
Tom Vilsack's pom-poms for genetically engineered food are going to put the United States into not only an economic hole, but a health one as well. Economically, farmers are losing more and more of their seeds to crazed-mass patenting by the agro-influencing pharmaceutical corporations. Seeds, I may add, they have the God given right to raise and plant from one generation to the next. They are also losing crops to cross contamination. Seeds and crops are being patented and manipulated by agrochemical, bio-tech and pharmaceutical companies (MONSANTO, CARGIL, DOW...you know who you are) and there are no restrictions as to where and how they can plant and test their crops. This means that their genetically engineered pollen can ride the free wave of nature's wind and take over other farmers' crops, even the ones carefully tended to as Organic. Now why should that concern ME you ask? Well, our bodies are one big chemistry set. Everything we breathe, drink or put in our mouths breaks down and changes once it starts traveling through our body system. If you eat corn that has been altered by the DNA of a soil bacteria and an amphibian (no, I am not kidding), it means that "that" is going into you body and your body must react to "it". Now, would you eat a handful of dirt? No, because the bacteria and a whole host of other things in it will make you sick. Would you lick or eat a live frog? Probably not (unless you are one of those strange beings looking for a very desperate poisoning high). But your body is going to react to those foreign DNA intrusions and that can lead to everything from misdiagnosed asthma, hay fever or a very scary trip to the emergency room (don't even get me started on long term effects upon organs, reproductive systems and child development).
Our nation is suffering already (and perhaps due to GM tainting) from skyrocketing cases of cancer, diabetes, obesity, malnutrition, heart disease, bronchial infections and disorders, Celiac disease, and an alarming rise in autism. This is only naming a few and they are especially affecting our children and the poor. Now doesn't this make you concerned about our health care system? Yes, there is a direct link to the quality of our diets to the quality of our health. Most of what we suffer from is preventative, but only if we have the power to make decisions about our food. That is a right we all have, not only as Americans but as human beings and this right is threatened. Even now, the USDA is rushing through its rules on GE foods and pharmaceutical crops. This essentially takes protection away from us and makes it easier (and more profitable) for the companies behind the engineering. This puts money in their pockets and takes money out of ours as taxpayers and consumers. I don't know about anyone else, but I pay a lot for my health insurance and that is just to have it. We are in a healthcare crisis that President Elect Obama has put great emphasis upon within his agenda for our country. Remember, we can survive without gasoline, but no living thing on this planet will survive without food and water that functions in our bodies the way they are supposed to.
Back to Tom Vilsack. I realize he is a friend and has supported Obama throughout his campaign. However, if President Elect Obama is going to keep his word he needs people who's alliances will make his proposed policies a reality, and that means making sure their agendas don't contradict his own or that of the people's safety and health.
So for any other candidate for this position or any other cabinet placement, I ask this - if they are pro-gene tic modification or have MONSANTO (or any agrochemical, biotech, pharmaceutical company) on their resume, think hard and twice about considering them for a position of such importance and power. People may be poor, losing their homes or going through other hard times, but everyone must eat and an economy is nothing if all the people are dying or sick.
On a happier note, I'll be back next time with some info on agriculture and a green economy. If you want to do your own research, there are some excellent sites to check out. Here they are:
www.democracyinaction.org
www.centerforfoodsafety.org
Books to check out:
Cradle to Cradle by Wiliam McDonough & Michael Braungart
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamon
One Straw Revolution by Masanobu Fukuoka
Oh, and if President Elect Obama should choose to read these books ( or have read them already), it would make my year :}
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