Documentary Day #1

DECONSTRUCTING SUPPER

If you've been following me for a while, you know that the two documentaries, "Food Matters" and "Food, Inc." are two of my very favorite documentaries. They are also probably two of the most known documentaries, and maybe you've even watched them yourself. I've decided to take some time each week, provided that I have the time, to inform you of some other wonderful documentaries that aren't as common.
If you can spare just 48 minutes of your time over this next week, let's start with the documentary, "Deconstructing Supper." It's about a chef, John Bishop, from Vancouver who goes on his own journey to "deconstruct supper." His restaurant guests began to ask him questions he could not answer like, "What's in your food?" "How's it grown?" "Are chemicals and pesticides used?" "Does your food contain GMO's?" In fact, not only could he not answer these questions about the food that was in his very own restaurant, he didn't even know what GMO's were.

Here's a basic overview from Wikipedia.

A genetically modified organism (GMO) or genetically engineered organism (GEO) is an organism whose genetic material has been altered using genetic engineering techniques. These techniques, generally known as recombinant DNA technology, use DNA molecules from different sources, which are combined into one molecule to create a new set of genes. This DNA is then transferred into an organism, giving it modified or novel genes. Transgenic organisms, a subset of GMOs, are organisms which have inserted DNA that originated in a different species. GMOs are the constituents of genetically modified foods.


The documentary goes on to explain that large biotech companies combine organisms of different species, plants, animals, insects, fish, bacteria, and viruses that wouldn't naturally breed.


John goes to Aventis, a biotech company in Saskatchewan, and meets with the head scientist, Dr. Malcolm Devine. Dr. Devine tells John that even though foods aren't labeled as containing GMO'S, 60-70% of processed foods do contain some sort of GMO. One comment made by Dr. Devine about their process of getting GMO's at Aventis really stood out to me: "We have to do a whole bunch of little things to get it in the right form so it meets our needs." I'm wondering who's needs he thinks he's meeting because it's definitely not mine:) John ends up going to the grocery store with Dr. Devine and picks out a variety of foods that all contain GMO's. He then makes a meal for the two of them. During dinner, Dr. Devine explains that, "Genes makes special proteins that are very specific. It's toxic only to certain classes of insects. It kills those insects, so it protects the corn from insect damage." Coming to an obvious conclusion, John asks, "So are these toxins still in the food?" Dr. Devine's response was this, "In the processing, almost certainly, the toxin is degraded." Almost is just not good enough for me!


After hearing the biotech companies view on GMO's, he goes straight to the farmers next. One such Canadian farmer, Percy, had been growing canola for over 53 years, growing the best seeds, with the highest yield, the most disease resistant, and those best suited for the local land. One day in 1997 he found a genetically modified plant, made by Monsanto, in his field. Despite the fact that Percy wanted nothing to do with Monsanto's GMO's he was later sued by Monsanto for having their product in his field. There's more information on this part in the video, but one of the main points taken away was this, "whoever controls the seeds and land controls the food supply, and whoever controls the food supply, controls what we eat. This should be the consumers choice and not a large companies. 


John attempted to interview Monsanto himself, but was declined an interview. He found two journalists that, years earlier had had the opportunity to interview Monsanto, Jane Akre and Steve Wilson. They were interviewing Monsanto in regards to their bovine growth hormone that is liberally injected into cows, and there for our dairy products. So, milk was actually the first genetically modified product on the market. The journalist thought it only right to have such dairy products labeled as containing BGH, but apparently the charges were not thoroughly tested by the FDA and not labeling was never allowed. The U.S. in the only major industrialized country to approve consumption of BGH, which has been linked to colon and breast cancer. 


He then met with Luke Anderson, an activist and author out of Great Britain, to talk about our rights and how to get things done. His suggestion was public pressure, and you can watch more about this on the video. 


Lastly, John went to India, where they actually campaigned against  roundup. In the 60's, the range and selection of crops diminished drastically d/t the addition of chemicals and pesticides on their fields. They are now working to improve that damage and encourage free exchange of seeds. The first scientist interviewed said it well, "Manipulating plants isn't about farming." Hear more by watching the video. 


So, personally, I think that buying local and organic as much as possible will help us to support what is true and healthy for our bodies.  Buy less processed food, but most of all make an informed choice about your food!!