Remember “Casablanca”? Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman on that wet runway, he’s telling her to get on the plane, he’s telling her that the problems of two people don’t amount to a hill of beans…
What does a hill of beans amount to? It was not a useful standard of measurement in the 1940s, and even less so today. Those beans are not what they used to be.
The hill of beans I have in mind are soybeans. They’re being harvested right now and will be shipped to market next month. This particular hill of soybeans has been genetically altered by the mad scientists at the Monsanto Corporation of St. Louis, Missouri. The tainted beans are called “Roundup Ready” soybeans. By “Roundup Ready,” Monsanto means that the adulterated beans will not be killed by Monsanto’s herbicide “Roundup,” which kills just about every other form of plant life. Monsanto has altered the beans so they can be bathed in poisons throughout the growing season and then delivered to your table.
This year’s crop is a prototype – an experiment, if you will, in which we are the subjects. Only a small percentage of tainted beans are being grown and mixed in with the rest of the crop. Next year, whole counties of genetically altered, pesticide-soaked soybeans will be heading to market.
Well – okay – maybe you’re a meat eater and you think this commentary is just about vegetarians and tainted tofu. After all, American cows are full of Monsanto growth hormone and you’re thinking this is just equal-opportunity chemistry for the Birkenstock set.
Before you go clicking over to Karpinski, think about this: there are 20,000-30,000 food products that may contain soy. When you read a label and see lecithin listed as an ingredient, it’s probably derived from soy.
Very soon “Roundup Ready” soybeans could be hiding in your kitchen in everything from margarine to muesli, from baby food to biscuits, from smoked herring to chocolate.
Tofu, that’s one thing; margarine – whatever, but now they’re messing with chocolate and by God, that’s going too far. And if it’s milk chocolate, there’s probably Monsanto growth hormone in the milk and they’ve got you coming and going.
And they’re not going to stop there. Monsanto has already genetically altered corn, cotton and sugar beets in the pipeline.
So maybe you’re still thinking this is no big deal. Maybe you think that forewarned is forearmed and now that you know about “Roundup Ready,” you’ll keep an eye out for it and you won’t buy it.
Well, thanks to the constant vigilance of the regulatory lapdogs at the Food and Drug Administration, food processors will not be required to label products containing genetically-altered ingredients.
But don’t give up, there’s still hope. Genetically-altered foods do not qualify for the organic classification, giving us yet another reason to get down to the co-op and shop organic.
And keep a tofu burning in the window – I’ll be home in time for dinner.
Field of Beans
Remember “Casablanca”? Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman on that wet runway, he’s telling her to get on the plane, he’s telling her that the problems of two people don’t amount to a hill of beans…
What does a hill of beans amount to? It was not a useful standard of measurement in the 1940s, and even less so today. Those beans are not what they used to be.
The hill of beans I have in mind are soybeans. They’re being harvested right now and will be shipped to market next month. This particular hill of soybeans has been genetically altered by the mad scientists at the Monsanto Corporation of St. Louis, Missouri. The tainted beans are called “Roundup Ready” soybeans. By “Roundup Ready,” Monsanto means that the adulterated beans will not be killed by Monsanto’s herbicide “Roundup,” which kills just about every other form of plant life. Monsanto has altered the beans so they can be bathed in poisons throughout the growing season and then delivered to your table.
This year’s crop is a prototype – an experiment, if you will, in which we are the subjects. Only a small percentage of tainted beans are being grown and mixed in with the rest of the crop. Next year, whole counties of genetically altered, pesticide-soaked soybeans will be heading to market.
Well – okay – maybe you’re a meat eater and you think this commentary is just about vegetarians and tainted tofu. After all, American cows are full of Monsanto growth hormone and you’re thinking this is just equal-opportunity chemistry for the Birkenstock set.
Before you go clicking over to Karpinski, think about this: there are 20,000-30,000 food products that may contain soy. When you read a label and see lecithin listed as an ingredient, it’s probably derived from soy.
Very soon “Roundup Ready” soybeans could be hiding in your kitchen in everything from margarine to muesli, from baby food to biscuits, from smoked herring to chocolate.
Tofu, that’s one thing; margarine – whatever, but now they’re messing with chocolate and by God, that’s going too far. And if it’s milk chocolate, there’s probably Monsanto growth hormone in the milk and they’ve got you coming and going.
And they’re not going to stop there. Monsanto has already genetically altered corn, cotton and sugar beets in the pipeline.
So maybe you’re still thinking this is no big deal. Maybe you think that forewarned is forearmed and now that you know about “Roundup Ready,” you’ll keep an eye out for it and you won’t buy it.
Well, thanks to the constant vigilance of the regulatory lapdogs at the Food and Drug Administration, food processors will not be required to label products containing genetically-altered ingredients.
But don’t give up, there’s still hope. Genetically-altered foods do not qualify for the organic classification, giving us yet another reason to get down to the co-op and shop organic.
And keep a tofu burning in the window – I’ll be home in time for dinner.