E110 SCARY STORIES

            Upton Sinclair’s novel The Jungle unveils the disgust of the factories, shows the public what they are really eating- sometimes unveiling foods consisting of rat body parts- through pictures, which jump-starts America into a period of intense change through social movements.  Sinclair and the muckrakers of the early 1900’s, the people of America became interested in creating a cleaner, healthier America by eliminating the filth of factories, especially those of the meat-packing industry.With the help of Sinclair and the other muckrakers of this time, many laws and health regulations were put into place to ensure the health of the American people. Over time, however, and more frequently in the recent years, the government has overlooked the health of the American people. Similar to the corruption in the factories over one hundred years ago, today, many food production companies are making foods that consumers deem “more enticing.” This means doing whatever it takes to make the consumer buy the product, disregarding the health and rights of the American people, some of which do not even originate from the actual food it is said to replicate. More and more of these products have been coming to super-market shelves in the recent years and have mocked the appearance of the original foods we have grown to know. Which product we buy, the real food or the “replicated,” is never to be known because it is not required by American law to distinguish between the two products. Instead of focusing all of the country’s effort and money in foreign countries, war and violence, why is it that the health of our own people is always overlooked?

 

    The American food industry has taken a large downturn in the caring for the people of America. Along with this, the government has sugar-coated the importance of our health and in comparison to the legislation passed in years ago, we are all unknowingly going to be driven into disease, sickness and death. The industry has introduced new products known as the Genetically Modified Organism, GMO for short, in order to produce their products more quickly and look more enticing to the consumer. The producer scientifically crosses the genes in the product so that the organism can sustain a better life, grow more efficiently and appear to be more suitable to the consumer by having a longer shelf or refrigerator life. The truth of the matter is, what we are buying in supermarkets has unfortunately become a part of the artificial, commercial market of our modern world. For example, every specific fruit and vegetable is supposed to grow during a certain season due to the season’s temperature and characteristics benefitting the development of the produce. In modern times, companies have disregarded any types of seasonal growing patterns and are harvesting fruits all year long, picking them at their first sight of life, and then before they get a chance to die due to the inability to withstand the temperature of that point in time, the manufacturers “ripen them with ethylene gas.” (Food Inc.) Yes, this is the idea of a fruit or vegetable, but really, unbeknownst to us, we are all eating chemically grown foods. With America being the second fattest country in the world, enticing people to eat healthy things such as fruits and vegetables should be a priority of the government. On the contrary, though,there is a deliberate veil, this curtain, that’s dropped between us and where our food is coming from. The industry doesn’t want you to know the truth about what you’re eating, because if you knew, you might not want to eat it. (Food Inc.)

 

As new studies are being brought to the public and the truths of what is really in our food are being unraveled, people are steering away from foods they thought were healthy. Since we have no idea how to distinguish between which fruit or vegetable sitting on the shelf of a supermarket has been genetically modified, consumers may very well start to fear buying the healthier options all together and stop caring and putting effort into this type of healthier lifestyle. Furthermore, some may argue that America has taken steps backwards to the times before the muckrakers. Not only are the GMOs apparent in produce and processed foods but even can be seen in other “natural foods” such as meats. Specifically in raising chickens, modern industry has influenced the entire way chickens have been raised, or even to extent, grown.  Today, consumers prefer the white-meat chicken breasts; so chicken farmers have “rearranged” chickens so that they develop larger breasts, quicker, so that they can mass produce what the consumer demands. Ultimatley, chicken farmers just want to make more money. In essence, these chickens end up not being able to hold their own weight, sit in all their own secretions, dirt and bacteria from the ground and the secretions of the other hundreds of chickens that are squished next to them. Not only is this unsanitary but compared to the harvesting of naturally raised chickens, these “birds are now raised and slaughtered in half the time they were 50 years ago, but now they’re twice as big.”

 

 In the more recent times, consumers have been faced with the difficulties of figuring out which products have been produced through GMOs. The government has not helped in any way to discourage the use of GMOs in the recent years and has been sparked an increase in conflicting views. Many consumers want to be notified if they are buying a product that has been produced with GMOs so that they can avoid buying and eating those things. GMOs “merge DNA from different species,” enabling the product to have different, more “beneficial” traits than the original product. (What is GMO?) However, crossing between genes can be dangerous for some people in regards to allergies because no one knows in truth what they are really eating. GMOs can be crossed with any genes. For example, a person who is deathly allergic to peanuts could get a reaction from eating anything that has been modified using the peanut GMO. The worst part is, the person will never know what may have caused that reaction because there was no label telling what was in the modifier. Furthermore, it is unjust to the people who want to keep their body’s pure and clean to not identify which products have or have not undergone GMO processing. Law requires that the bread we buy have all the ingredients in it, including corn syrups, preservatives and artificial flavorings, but does not require GMOs to be identified. First and foremost, many of the products that are hit with GMOs are products of big industry: chicken, meat, produce and fish. If the government were to require all producers to show the GMOs they were using they would halt people from wanting to buy their products. Also, many of these products are considered to be the “healthier” options in the supermarket and if the government were to make these goods less appealing to customers, steering them towards unhealthier items, they would be ridiculed for not paying attention to the health of the public. Also, if the government were to ban the use of GMOs, it would anger production companies because GMOs help speed up and increase levels of production because they increase the size and efficiency of the product life. On the down side, these new production means require inorganically modifications. Our country’s founding principles are based off “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” If we are not living and eating how we enjoy, especially those who don’t want chemicals in our body, we are being stripped of those basic principles. The tyrannical government is bossing us around if they do not ensure the health and safety of their own people. 

 

Although our country as a whole has taken steps backwards since Upton Sinclair and the muckrakers, there have been steps taken to move forward again. As people become more aware of what they are eating, whether it be because they want to lose weight or just eat an overall more natural diet, they are becoming more aware of the level of use of GMOs. Many Americans, mostly the Organics, have done their research and found these corrupt, inorganic products and like many of us, don’t like it. However, they choose to take a stand and protest for our rights in groups and have even brought some of their voices to Washington. One of the most recognized groups, having a charter in almost every state is called, “Millions Against Monsanto.” New research has proven, “the Non-GMO project has certified more than 20,000 products since it launched in 2007.” Surpisingly enough, in the past year many of the largest industrial food companies have pledged, and even changed ingredients in their products, to ensure all products being distributed are GMO free. One of the first companies to take a loud stance on the anti-GMO project is Ben and Jerry’s. The ice cream company has gone to the extent of changing one of their most popular flavors, Coffee Heath Bar Crunch, eliminating Heath Bars as an ingredient since the candy bar is not GMO free. Along with Ben and Jerry’s, cereals like Cheerios, one of the most popular children’s cereals in the nation, has quietly, but surely, gone GMO free. Furthermore, Ben and Jerry’s has also taken a large voice on banning GMOs and has helped to encourage more states to pass legislation requiring GMO labeling on all products in the marketplace. “Roughly 37 states are proposing that food labels contain whether the product contains GMOs.” The ice cream company has dedicated significant time, money and effort in setting up a campaign to back its home state of Vermont after passing its GMO labeling law in 2015.

 

 When thinking of the health of the people of America, you’d think that the government would want to ensure that first and foremost before anything else. However, our government has become so corrupt and entangled in foreign affairs that the problems on the homefront seem to take a seat on the back burner in the most recent of years. Consumers are often tricked by advertisements, fine print and product labels but what has become an even bigger struggle is what not even shown to us. The products that farmers now grow through new modifiers have become increasingly controversial. People don’t know what they’re truly eating anymore and that can be dangerous. The government is so hands off in terms of internal affairs that they take no part in doing anything to stop it. The way we eat has changed more in the last 50 years than it has in the previous 10,000. Modern industry has had the greatest impact on how Americans eat and see food. Without the government’s help to turn this around, we may be headed into even greater despair. We need to start demanding help from the government for good, wholesome food.

 

Works Cited

 "Anti-GMO Groups - United States." GMO Awareness. 23 Feb. 2013. Web. 9 Dec. 2015.

Food, Inc. Dir. Jody Adams. Ford Hall Forum, 2010. Film.

 Sinclair, Upton. The Jungle. Champaign, Ill.: Project Gutenberg, 1905. Print.

 "Some Food Companies Are Quietly Dumping GMO Ingredients." NPR. NPR. Web. 9 Dec. 2015.

 "What Is GMO?" The NonGMO Project RSS. Web. 8 Dec. 2015.

 "5 Companies Against Genetically Modified Foods." TheStreet. 17 Mar. 2014. Web. 9 Dec. 2015.

 

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