[Professor]
Introduction
Food Inc. is a documentary film that is personally enlightening. As a common trait among the American population, I order the fast food more often without realizing how it affects my personal health. After watching the film, I felt remorse for myself and for ever negative impacts caused by the society that has given met much comfort. The film tries to confront how food business is affecting health and environment and reveals who really benefits from it. It showcased celebrated law suits against the giant fast food chain in the United States due to its health impacts that even resulted to untimely killing of a young boy. It documented how the workers in the food industry are treated. It showed the historical labor discrimination in food industry and how the discrimination evolved up to this day. It bravely berated the unimaginable control of agro-chemical businesses not only in the food cycle but even to the freedom of farmers to reproduce their own seeds. It asserts that the corporations control the food intake of every American citizen and further curtailing the poor families in their access to healthy food. As stated in an online article entitled “The World’s Top 10 seed companies: who owns Nature” “Gene Giants have used intellectual property laws to commodify the world seed supply – a strategy that aims to control plant germplasm and maximize profits by eliminating Farmers' Rights” (gmwatch.org). The negative impacts of the mass production of food in health, food cycle, ownership of seeds among many others as presented in the film surely outweigh its good effect on producing more food to the growing number of population.
Body
In the film, it traced how the food is manufactured from the very beginning of the cycle which is planting. A burger patty for example is manufactured ideally by domesticating cows in a free range pasture land where they can freely graze. When the cows are mature enough, they are brought to slaughter house for butchering and processing the patties. However, the traditional way is not already practiced in America. The advent of mass production led to raising cows in concentration camps where they are fed with feeds – which are manufactured from genetically modified organisms (GMO). In the said concentration camps, the livestock are arranged in a way that they cannot move. Its logic is for the livestock to avoid losing weight. As a result, Wanjek, Christopher in his online article said that “When they are cramped into pens, ankle-deep in the manure of hundreds to thousands of cows, E. coli tends to spread. Bacteria can splash up on udders and get into milk; or get into intestines and contaminate meat during the slaughtering process; or pass through the cow in manure and ultimately end up on crops directly as fertilizer or indirectly by leaching into the water supply.” (livescience.com). The food engineers were able to create chemical based sanitizers in order to disinfect the processed meat from E coli. However, science reveals that these sanitizers only add to the pile of chemical intake of every American.
Aside from the E coli problem, mass production of cattle also contributes largely to global warming. Research of Brooks, Cassandra entitled “Consequences of increased global meat consumption on the global environment – trade in virtual water, energy and nutrients,” “The meat industry also has a significant impact on global warming. Livestock production accounts for 18 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, including 9 percent of carbon dioxide and 37 percent of methane gas emissions worldwide” (woods.stanford.edu).
One of the terrifying realities is that our entire food intake is actually controlled by big business like the Monsanto. The said corporation has been bragging about its contribution in the revolution of food that introduced mass production to cater to the growing food consumption of the world (Monsanto.com). On the other side of the coin, they actually killed many of the traditional seeds that were a result of several thousand years of farming. Soya beans and corn which are the main ingredients of all products are patented by Monsanto. They compelled every American farmer to buy seeds from them and prevent them from cleaning and propagating it. Unlike the traditional seeds, Monsanto’s are highly dependent on chemical inputs including herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers. These seeds are productive without the said chemicals (GMwatch.org).
In June 2013, there was a disturbing announcement from a certain Dr. Mercola regarding the contribution of Monsanto’s herbicide specifically the glyphosate on the development of autism and several diseases. The article said that the genetically engineered food contain significant amount of glyphosate and when its eaten by human beings, it post high risk to health as they found out that it is one of the major contributors of Parkinson’s disease and Autism. The articles also argue that glyphosate residues are found in the most common food in America. Moreover, in an independent study made by Bohn, Thomas and Cuhra, Marek (2014), it said that “chronic exposure to glyphosate and a commercial formulation of Roundup resulted in negative effects on several life-history traits, in particular reproductive aberrations like reduced fecundity and increased abortion rate.” Going back to the film, most of the American population find convenience in fast food like King Burger and Mc Donalds as they are cheaper and accessible. In the Dollar Menu, a person can eat as much with one to five dollars compared to buying fruits and vegetables in the market that are usually expensive.
The fast food convenience however has taken its toll on the American citizens. One case in the film is the death of a boy in its early childhood after eating a burger. The family has tirelessly filed cases against the company and even sought the help of the FDA but to no avail. Up to this day, the family continues to advocate for boycotting the big fast food chains and planting own food. Another documentary entitled “Super Size Me” corroborates the claims of Food Inc. with regards the issue of fast food. It features one person who ate Mc Donalds’ burger and other products in the span of one month and the result was terrifying. The subject did not only gain weight but become obese. In one of the reviews of the film by Scott, A (2004), it stated that the “movie, which opens nationally today, goes down easy and takes a while to digest, but its message is certainly worth the loss of your appetite” (The New York Times).
This situation is isolated in America. Farmers around the globe are becoming more and more dependent on the patented seeds and its accompanying chemical based inputs in their hope to intensify their harvest. In Asia especially in the South East Asia and South Asia, small farmers are trapped in the cycle of debt because of this system. In the absence of capital, they succumbed to the trap of money lenders that are imposing very high interests. In the end, the farmers’ harvest cannot anymore suffice for their debts. Barret, Mike in his article suggests that “Biotech has attempted dismiss the rise in farmer suicides in India due to the introduction of genetically modified crops, but the problem is too pervasive to wipe under the rug. While there are numerous contributing factors to farmer suicides in India, debt is the largest concern, which is largely fueled by non-viable crops” (Global Research).
As it was perfectly visualized in the documentary film, all products in the supermarkets came from only a few plants which are corn, soya beans, and wheat. The meat section is also monopolized by the lords in the meat industry that include Tyson. When it comes to the meat industry, it was formerly a good competition several farmers who are engaged in small and medium scale poultry or swine production. Eventually, the said business entities started to be close or merge with a bigger company. Today, a person can even count from his fingers the only companies existing today. Small time farmers become contract growers who have no choice but abide with the rules and regulations of big businesses.
Conclusion
I agree with the thesis of Food Inc. regarding how big companies have engineered our daily food intake. After many years of the mass production, it was truly successful in meeting the demands of food but it made the local farmers more impoverish than ever because of the control of agri-biotech and agro chemical companies. It posed serious threats to human health, access and control to seeds and food itself, and the ecosystem. If we calculate the impacts of mass production world-wide, the seemingly good effect in terms of accessibility will fade in comparison. During the time if famine, it did help in saving lives from hunger through the Green Revolution but it killed the sustainable ways of farmers to produce food. It killed many seeds that could have been the solutions for food security and food sovereignty.
Works Cited
Barret, Mike. “Monsanto’s GMO Creations Caused 291,000 Suicides in India.” Global Research: Centre for Research on Globalization, (17 Nov. 2014). Web. 2 Dec. 2014.
Bohn, Thomas & Cuhra, Marek. “How the ‘Extreme Levels’ of Roundup in Food became the Industry Norm.” Independent Science News, (24 Mar. 2014). Web. 2 Dec. 2014.
Brooks, Cassandra. “Consequences of increased global meat consumption on the global environment – trade in virtual water, energy and nutrients.” Stanford Woods: Institute for the Environment, (2014). Web. 2 Dec. 2014.
Dr. Mercola. “Monsanto’s Roundup Herbicide May Be Most Important Factor in Development of Autism and Other Chronic Disease.” Mercola.com: Take Control of your Health, (9 Jun. 2013). Web. 1 Dec. 2014.
GM Watch. “Animals Raised on Genetically Engineered Feed are Different.” Organic Consumers Association, (10 Jan. 2010). Web. 1 Dec. 2014.
GM Watch. “The World’s Top Seed Companies: who owns the Nature.” Gmwatch.org, (2014). Web. 2 Dec. 2014.
Monsanto. “Why does Agriculture needs to be Improved.” Monsanto.com, (2002). Web. 2 Dec. 2014.
Scott, A.O. “Super Size Me (2003) Film Review; When all those Big Macs Bite Back.” The New York Times online, (7 May 2004).
TheLip TV. “TheTruth About Your Food with FOOD INC. Filmmaker Robert Kenner.” Online video clip. Youtube. Youtube, 17 Jul. 2012. Web. 1 Dec. 2014.
Wait for Movies. “Super Size Me [Full Documentary].” Online video clip. Youtube. Youtube, 17 Nov. 2014. Web. 1 Dec. 2014.
Wanjek, Christopher. “The Truth Behind the Spinach Scare: Cheap Beef.” Livescience.com, (26 Sept. 2006). Web. 2 Dec. 2014.
