This came to my attention in a Move-on email. Here's where to sign their petition:Tell the FDA that we have a right to know what's in our food. Here's an independent report in the L. A. Times Genetically engineered salmon under FDA consideration.
Reporting from Washington — With a global population pressing against food supplies and vast areas of the ocean swept clean of fish, tiny AquaBounty Technologies Inc. of Waltham, Mass., says it can help feed the world.
The firm has developed genetically engineered salmon that reach market weight in half the usual time. What's more, it hopes to avoid the pollution, disease and other problems associated with saltwater fish farms by having its salmon raised in inland facilities.
Read on below for a related report that would seem to drive this sort of thing.
Child Malnutrition Affects 1 In 4 Children Globally, Report Says This report from Huff Post World tells us:
Nearly half a billion children are at risk of "devastating and irreversible" damage from malnutrition, including stunted growth and undeveloped brains, according to a new report released by Save the Children. This "hidden crisis" kills more than 300 children every hour of every day and affects one in four children worldwide, according to the report.
Chronic childhood malnutrition has been called a "silent killer," as it is often not listed as a cause of death and does not benefit from as much attention as high-profile campaigns targeting malaria or HIV/AIDS.
Soaring food prices have left children particularly vulnerable. According to the Press Association, one-third of parents reported that their children did not have enough to eat, and one-sixth said that their children skipped school in favor of work. Chief executive of Save the Children Justin Forsyth outlined the gravity of the situation:
"Every hour of every day, 300 children die because of malnutrition, often simply because they don't have access to the basic, nutritious foods that we take for granted in rich countries," he said.
So does this justify the use of new technology to engineer our food to make more? After all, the practice of genetically breeding and selecting animals and plants goes back a long way before we learned to do it by direct gene manipulation. This is a question that is the tip of an iceberg.
Fortunately genetic engineering of food is not among the solutions put forth in this report but as you can see from the blurb on the salmon it will be a way the practice is justified.
Yet if we listen to organizations like Food Democracy Now we are given a different slant on the problem's solution:
Our food system is fundamentally broken. A few companies dominate the market, prioritizing profits over people and our planet. Government policies put the interests of corporate agribusiness over the livelihoods of farm families. Farm workers toil in unsafe conditions for minimal wages. School children lack access to healthy foods--as do millions of Americans living in poverty. From rising childhood and adult obesity to issues of food safety, air and water pollution, worker's rights and global warming, our current food system is leading our nation to an unsustainable future.
Food Democracy Now! members have a different vision. We know we can build a food system that gives our communities equal access to healthy food, and respects the dignity of the farmers who produce it. We believe in recreating regional food systems, supporting the growth of humane, natural and organic farms, and protecting the environment. We value our children's health, worker's rights, conservation, and animal welfare over corporate profits. And we believe that working together, we can make this vision a reality in our lifetimes.
So it is a familiar contrast is it not? You can listen to Monsanto and friends and believe their will always be technological fix for every problem the money grubbers create. Or, you can begin to try to stop creating problems and begin solving them instead. The economics of food are not seperate from the rest of the global capitalist system. Need more be said?