Thursday 1 October 2015

Hunger or Well-being?


By Andrea EstupiƱan (4th semester undergraduate Tourism & Hotel Management student, English through Multimedia elective)

Do you remember what your breakfast was today? Or what you ate yesterday? I don’t know what you had, but I am sure that your meals included grains, fruit, vegetables, meat, chicken or fish; and maybe you could be thinking that it’s obvious that those foods were included in your diet and it makes no sense to ask that, so I have new questions for you. What kind of food are you eating? What is that doing or not doing to your body? How is it being produced? Where does all that come from?

It is important to take into account the factors already mentioned because there are situations that have been changing nutrition. I am talking about transgenic elements: food that comes from genetically modified (GM) seeds modified by Monsanto, the company that has this monopoly in its hands.

GM foods have been made to satisfy an increased demand for things to eat. It means that the modifications make seeds have a greater resistance to pests, ecosystem conditions and climatic conditions. They also become resistant to herbicides, take less time to grow, last longer and have more attractive physical characteristics although everything cannot be good. The production of GM foods brings with it the implementation of new practices such as the use of fertilizers and pesticides that are toxic to our health; the human body is not capable of removing these chemical toxins by itself and this exposure affects and deteriorates the body, due to internal biomass accumulation.

If you are thinking that you don’t eat these fertilizers or pesticides, think about how much of it could fall onto the ground where the plants grow. Think about how, when we consume protein, the animals have been fed with GM grain.

This form of agriculture is killing the other plants around GM crops. Insects are dying, and this is imminently affecting the food chain and the environment.

If this kills nature and living beings, won’t it kill us, too?

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