A sad tale in the life of chocolate…

July 7, 2011 at 11:51 am lucumadesigns Leave a comment

I know I just posted yesterday, but as I read an article this morning …. i had to post. And, I’m not completely off -topic. Chocolate is food.

Today’s post, however, is not about fair trade chocolate. It is about genetically engineered chocolate. A monster – coming to a supermarket near you.

I know some people are big fans of genetic engineering. They see it as a way to produce more crops and help feed many more people. They think it’s sustainable. They see it as the way to fix the food crisis. You may be one of them.

We used to think that too.

But after looking at all the angles & researching and talking with people, now here’s what we believe: We believe the independent studies that show mutations in 1st generation off-spring of GMO fed mice and other animals (GMOs are unsafe). We believe that the food crisis is not that there is not enough space for growing food, but that so many of our resources are being used for livestock and to grow food for livestock (most of which is GMO). We believe and have seen that once GE plants are introduced into an area, they cannot be completely kept to themselves – they will have pollen and seed carried off to other farms, who do not want them.

We have seen GMO companies like Montsanto crush small, whole foods farmers who do not want engineered crops on their land. We have seen that GMO crops require more pesticides and have created “super weeds” which lead to more pesticide spraying, harming farm workers & the earth. We think that putting plants that have pesticides (or other man-made contaminants) in their DNA into our bodies will never be a good thing. We see GE plants & salmon as the fault line of an environmental and social earthquake. And, it’s not something that will be easily reversed.

You may agree. You may not. You may just not know. In any case, do what you can and learn. And don’t’ just read the side you are inclined to believe. Read it all. Consider the impacts, the real impacts of what’s already going on and what more will happen.

And for a starter lesson, read the article that got me started on this post in the first place.