Netflix: The Future of Food & Say No to GMO

We watching Netflix often, especially for documentaries!

I know welcome to the 21st century, a few years late, better late than never I say.

Since adding this feature to our viewing pleasure, one of the first things I noticed with Netflix is the excellent representation of documentaries offered on the site, I think this system is a keeper and would recommend it to friends. Right away I found many documentaries dedicated to food and GMO (please say no) that I want to watch.

I had the pleasure of watching “The Future of Food,” a film released in 2004 that has been circulating around the globe. I had read a lot about the film but hadn’t had to opportunity to see it until just recently, thanks Netflix.

Many of the topics discussed were familiar, seeing it played across the screen brought them back to the forefront of my thinking.

One important question I had to ask myself was:

What type of issues are discussed in

“The Future of Food”

what documentation is there to support it?

• Percentage of farms/farmers decreased as industrialized farming emerged. True: According to this 1997 report to the USDA
• Plant diversity has been lost as industrial farming focused on seeds that produces more in less space.  True: The pdf report by the Land Institute can be found here.  Why is this important, think back to the Irish potato famine, close to a million people died from a massive crop failure as the Irish potato farms utilized only a few types of potatoes.
• Fertilizers were born from the nitrogen based bombs in the early 1900’s. True: According to this report by Mother Earth News
• Remember DDT? This practice created pollution, birth defects and environmental concerns. Synthetic pesticides continue to be used then banned due to a multitude of health issues. Read the University of San Diego report here
• Monsanto goes into seed modification, now seeds resistant to Round-up, seeds containing insecticide and then patents these seeds. Monsanto is allowed to patent seeds due to claims that the seeds are genetically different. True: Read this Wikipedia report for details
• Monsanto routinely sues non GMO farmers that have seed cross pollination from GMO users in their area. Monsanto forces farmers to destroy seed that a lifetime of work and natural farming had produced due to patent infringement after the GMO seed contaminated the heirloom seed. True: Tons of cases to view when searching but here is one for your review: Wikipedia’s Percy Schmeiser vs Monsanto.

• Product testing for GMO seeds isn’t done by the FDA. Monsanto states their seeds are genetically similar to natural seeds which exempts them from FDA testing (remember how they got their patent? by being genetically different) True: The FDA states on their website companies submit their own testing for approval
  

The above list is long but could be longer as the case grows against GMO, you could see Millions Against Monsanto for excellent coverage on this topic.

I learned a lot about where our foods come from and the impact not only on our nation but also on the world.  This is a very important topic, this might be an older movie but it still has a lot of value on the subject.

There is good news for people, like me, who are wondering why we are not suing Monsanto for contamination of Mother Nature, please read:

• Lawsuit seeks to invalidate Monsanto’s GMO patents
• Ohio farmers resist GMOs because non-GMO seeds work better
• Reversing roles, farmers sue Monsanto over GMO seeds

What can you do to help make changes:

~ Becoming informed and aware of what is happening to the foods you eat:  decisions are being made based on how much money can be placed in the pockets of various government entities not YOUR best interest.

~ Eat local grown foods whenever you can, SAY NO TO GMO, vote with your pocket and lets work together to make our food markets a safe place to shop again.

Do you like this content and want to see more reviews? Please add your comments below and let me know what you would like to see more of. Your comments and feed back let me know that what I am doing is important and keeps me motivated to do more!