Speech- Tapan Darji

Tapan Darji

1^st Semester Speech Final

          Over 238 years ago, founding father and former President Thomas Jefferson had a vision that America would develop into an agrarian country of small farmers. What happened to this ambition?  This was never fulfilled as the country took a more industrial approach in the following decades. One hundred years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, America was turning into an industrial society and headed away from Jefferson’s dream of an agrarian society. By the end of the 19^th century, the Industrial Revolution was in full swing and many people left there agrarian roots and migrated from farms to factories.

          Now look at society today. Based on this information ask yourselves these two questions: Where are the majority of people in the U.S. today? Are they in country or in the big cities?

          You would agree that people are conglomerated in dense urban cities and not in the bucolic country side. If this is true, then where is our food coming from?

          Your answer would probably be, from farms. If that is so, then why has the number of farmers decreased over time?  According to agclassroom.org, the total population in the U.S. in 1790 was 3,929,214 and farmers made up 90% of labor force and by 1930 the total population increased to 122,775,046, farm population was 30,455,350, farmers made up only 21% of the labor force, and there were 6,295,000 farms . According to an Agricultural census by the USDA, there were only 2,109,363 farms in the U.S. in 2012. This shows a decrease of about four million farms from 1930 to 2012 while the population grew over this time period.

          If the number of farms has decreased while the population has risen, then how are we able to produce enough food for everyone in the U.S.?  Some might say because of improved technology. If you said that you are entirely correct. But what you might not know is what that technology is. They are Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) and new processes of growing animals.

          You might be wondering what the problem is with GMOs. Let me explain to you what they are. GMOs are living plants whose genetic material is manipulated in laboratories by scientists using genetic engineering to create new unstable plant combinations that don’t occur naturally or through traditional crossbreeding methods. Some people might think that this would be good, because it would get rid of the bad genes faster and make foods safer, but they actually hurt the environment and the agricultural industry. According to Melissa Diane Smith, “Most genetically modified crops on the market are sprayed with large amounts ofherbicide, which pollute our land and water and get into our food. Chemical  companies have been purchasing more of the world’s seeds, genetically modifying them, and patenting them, so a handful of companies control our seed and food  supply—and farmers can no longer save and pass down those patented seeds.” Other ways that GMOs hurt the environment are that it reduces the effectively of pesticides and can cause super weeds and the toxins released by GMOs can alter and harm the soil.

          The effects that GMOs have on people can be very deadly. Foods that cause common allergic reactions such as nuts, milk, fish, and soybeans, have had their genes transferred into other organisms to create GMOs. Studies show that when people with allergic reactions to those foods eat the GMOs, they still get allergic reactions. And without any labeling regulations, people don’t know that the foods have GMOs with the genes from those foods that they are allergic to.

          You might be thinking that there can’t be that many GMOs around to cause these types of problems, but you wrong. In the documentary Food Inc., director Robert Kenner shows how 90% of the products in supermarkets contain corn and soybeans, the two of the most genetically modified foods; According to the article, Labeling of Genetically Modified Food, 85% of corn and 91% of soybeans are genetically modified.  They are used things like ketchup cheese, batteries, juices, food for cattle, and medicines like Motrin. This shows that GMOs are everywhere including in our cattle.

          In Food Inc. Kenner explains how corn is given to feed cows and chickens. Through this and artificial growth hormones, farmers have doubled the size of chickens and have decreased the time it takes to grow them by half. The chickens are much bigger than they ever grew in nature and have no bones. Everything in the market is boneless because people want more breast meat. The result is that cows and other animals are more susceptible to deadly versions of diseases such as E. Coli. And this leads to massive meat recalls.

          These massive meat recalls are caused by the industrialization and monopolization of the food industry. Companies like Tyson, Smithfield, and Perdue control the industry. Like I mentioned before the meat we eat has no bones. These companies do this to make more money and don’t even care about the people who eat them and how this is making people sick and killing them.

          In a June 2014 interview with Just-Food’s Kathy Askew, Ben and Jerry’s social mission activism manager Chris Miller discusses how his company plans to remove GMOs from all its ice cream ingredients and how they want regulations calling for mandatory labeling of GMOs.

          This is why we need to do something about the food industry. Why can’t we go back to the old ways when we actually knew what was in our food?

          We need to do something about GMOs. The European Union for example has blocked the use of GMOs in Europe. The U.S. needs to follow their lead. The first thing that we need to do is get tougher regulations on GMOs. We need them to be labeled on packages. Companies like Whole Foods have taken the initiative and are planning to have all GMOs in their products labeled by 2018.

          Only we can restore the food industry to where it belongs. We, the people, need to petition Congress to make GMO labeling mandatory for the good of the people. We need to stop these big companies from ruining the food industry. The solution is to buy local and buy organic foods. We need to restore the food industry to where we actually know what is in our foods.

Bibliography:

·        Food Inc. Dir. Robert Kenner. Magnolia Pictures, 2008. Documentary.

·        https://www.agclassroom.org/gan/timeline/17_18.htm

·        http://www.agcensus.usda.gov/Publications/2012/Preliminary_Report/Highlights.pdf

·        http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/09/16/the-decline-of-the-small-american-family-farm-in-one-chart/

·        http://www.nongmoproject.org/learn-more/

·        "GOING AGAINST Gmos... Melissa Diane Smith." Better Nutrition 76.10 (2014): 52-54. CINAHL with Full Text. Web. 13 Dec. 2014.

·        Wohlers, Anton E. "Labeling Of Genetically Modified Food." Politics & The Life Sciences 32.1 (2013): 73-84. Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection. Web. 13 Dec. 2014.

·        http://www.just-food.com/interview/ben-jerrys-backs-gmo-labelling-in-us_id127123.aspx Askew, Katy. Interview: Ben and Jerry’s Backs GMO Labeling in US. Just-food. Web.