Editor’s note: This article was first published in October 2011. The EU approval debate, the 15M movement and Spanish corruption cases are treated as current news, as they were then.
The food industry has a complaint: in Europe, approving a genetically modified food for sale takes much longer than usual. Is that the right headline? Is that good journalism?
By genetically modified (GM) foods we mean foods that contain an ingredient derived from an organism through genetic techniques, incorporating a gene from another species. The result is a genetically altered product, and so, whatever the scientific studies say (of doubtful origin and impartiality), the product is not natural. Let’s move on to the benefits of GM foods.
Benefits
The benefit to consumers and society is 0%, because every artificially made product carries a health risk, to a greater or lesser degree. We’ll hear that the GM foods approved by the European Union are safe, when the truth is that no GM food is safe for health: for every scientific study showing there is no health risk, there are 5 studies showing that the risks are there and are unpredictable over time. Obviously, it all depends on who carries out the study and which company pays for it.
The benefit of GM crops goes solely and exclusively to the “manufacturer” of these products, because we have to remember that a GM plant can resist pests, droughts and some herbicides. That way, the industry can meet all existing demand with a lower risk of losing its artificial crops.
There’s talk of economic losses if GM foods are kept out, but there would also be economic losses if the sale of tobacco were banned. Tobacco is a product approved by the European Union, so by that rule we could conclude it’s a healthy product.
Recently we learned of a scientific study saying that artificial ripening processes have wiped out 80% of fruit’s natural properties. In other words, if you eat plenty of fruit for its benefits, it turns out those benefits are getting scarcer and scarcer. The food industry is already being compared with the tobacco industry for being “indirectly” responsible for a similar percentage of cancer cases.
Fruit’s properties lie in the substance it secretes to protect itself from external agents and insects. If it has no need to secrete defences, it doesn’t produce 80% of the properties that are good for the human body. Any scientist knows this, paid or unpaid by the companies. Saying otherwise is trying to take society for fools.
We’re talking about the food of the future, and if we carry on down this road, our food will be the worst poison we can find. Meat synthesized from human excrement? Sports drinks synthesized from bodily fluids? Have we suddenly become idiots, to think none of this is bad for our health?
I can’t help feeling sad when I see what our scientists are turning into: they no longer work for the benefit of public health, but for the financial gain of industry. Some readers will think it’s crazy to believe that science would sell out to the economic interests of industry. To them I ask… Is it as crazy as a town planning councillor teaming up with a builder to let him build illegally in exchange for a little financial “help”? As crazy as the president of a Spanish autonomous region taking a bribe? As crazy as a politician accepting some suits in exchange for… (the Camps suits affair), or running illegal ERE redundancy schemes (the Andalusian ERE scandal)? Maybe we live in a very crazy world, but these days we know that corruption at every level of society and in every kind of post is out of all proportion. The problem is that we’ve already seen these plots in films “made” by Hollywood, so they’re hard to believe.
Let’s not be hypocrites
The number of cancer patients has soared. In Spain specifically, there are autonomous regions where cancer accounts for 33% of deaths. Once a single cause reaches 20% of mortality it’s considered an epidemic, and yes, cancer is an epidemic. In fact, it’s the new epidemic, and no culprit has been found, even though everything currently points to the food industry and its “associates”. Then again, why avoid the “Chimera” when the pharmaceutical industry has the “Bellerophon”, and both profit at the expense of the health of those ants called humans?
A few months ago, The Lancet reported on research into the food we were giving our children, including foods made specifically for babies, which would be behind most of our children’s illnesses because of their high doses of artificial products and chemicals. It’s surprising how society turns a deaf ear to this kind of news.
We’re talking about a global health problem, an industry that is already starting to kill, and a science that hides the truth. We’re talking about media that don’t do their job. There was a time when journalism was considered an art, one we were grateful for because it brought the truth to light no matter which company or person was behind the story. Only the truth mattered. When did the media sell out to political and/or economic interests? When did good journalism die?
When did we let our governments allow in, approve and sell products we know in advance are harmful to health? Will we wait until 40% of the population has cancer and then take to the streets, 15M-style (the Spanish “indignados” protest movement of 2011), to denounce something that by then can’t be fixed and that we could have prevented?
All we ask is:
- That science do its job for the benefit of health.
- That politicians heed impartial scientific studies before approving a poison.
- That the WHO live up to its name (the World Health Organization).
- That society start drawing its own conclusions and not be swayed by false studies or bad commercial journalism. That people use common sense and realize they suffer from illnesses caused by eating all sorts of products.
- That no person, government, company or organization forget that health comes before economic interest and that, sooner or later, putting economic interests ahead of health exacts a heavy price.
A basic, fundamental principle:
Organic and natural foods are great allies in beating and preventing cancer and other diseases. GM and/or artificial foods encourage the onset of cancer and other diseases. Any study that claims otherwise is of doubtful origin and professionalism.
Governments should provide the support needed to boost organic farming, since there are studies on it that do say it’s all benefits for health, and we can be sure there will never be a study showing any risk. Our descendants will thank us.
Featured image: Yann, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
