In Defense of the GMO

I have two old acquaintances from high school that I've ceased to stay in touch with, but thanks to facebook I still receive constant updates about them. Most of these posts have to do with what dumb thing Rick Santorum said last, who is fighting abortion rights, which type of chard is best, etc.

Rick Santorum

Chard

 

Recently, both, or at least their internet selves, have become actively involved in the anti-GMO movement. This debate comes up regularly at the FJH and I've often threatened to express my dissenting opinions on the blog. Today is the day, and without further ado (or research) I shall express my opinions on the topic:

      As with anything in our food industry, when the opportunity to provide and consume cheap food presents itself, consumers and suppliers are generally eager to partake. The burden of this cost is placed on the quality of food and the environment.  If you read the NYTIMES article I posted on the myth of sustainable meat you might agree. What most in the house took away from the article was as with anything, consumers really make the final call in the quality and costs of their food. 

    The same can be said for GMOs. I truly believe nothing about a genetically modified organism is inherently bad, it is only the motivation behind making one that is 'evil' or whatnot. I've come to this conclusion mostly through my biology education. 'Genetic modification' happens constantly, in our own bodies and in agriculture. It is in every sense of the word, 'a natural process.' I understand that most people's concerns are over human involvement in this process. However, every crop we eat today has had its genetics modified by humans. The domestication of wild plants into harvest-able crops was one of the main factors in the transition to sedentary human populations. The ability to domesticate crops comes from our ability to select for mutations in genomes.

    Ben "the Best" Tuthill, or as I like to say, "Ben 'the Highly Uninformed about Genetically Modified Organisms' Tuthill," has convinced himself that GMOs cause cancer. He is absolutely right, because everything causes cancer. Every chemical has the ability to interact with DNA and cause a permanent change to the genetic code. So in this regard, yes, GMOs are carcinogens. Are they what we should be most concerned about? Well, when one considers research like the China Study it becomes obvious that non plant based products are one of the worst things we can consume in terms of cancer. The research so far shows the risks of cancer to be much higher from meat and dairy products then from GMOs. (I would bring up pesticides, but I assume if one is anti GMO they are probably anti pesticide too).

      Professor Giovanni Saarman has brought up the threat of GMOs becoming invasive species. This is also a concern of mine, and I don't really feel like defending GMOs here. However, invasive species are everywhere, almost everything we eat today is technically invasive. Also, just because you have a tangerine mixed with an orange doesn't mean it has this amazing ability to now thrive in Montana and displace natural species. We are modifying these plants to be easier to harvest, not so that they can compete with native species. (I understand this is not a well thought out argument)

     There are also some benefits I think are ridiculous: disease resistant crops. It is unrealistic to think we can modify our crops to keep up with parasites. Bacteria have gone through more mutations in the last 6 hours than we have since we left the monkeys. If we really want to protect against disease then having a variety of species of the same crop is the way to go. However, I don't see any reason GMOs should not be included in this. Having a variety of heirloom species growing alongside GMOs gives us more variety in our crops, which in my opinion, is a good thing.

     This gets back to my original point: its all about striking a balance. GMOs are really interesting and exciting, but as Monsanto has proven they can be used for some less than righteous means. Can we rely on them for the future? No, of course not. Lets rely on plants that have stood the test of time. However, we should also let human ingenuity and curiosity work towards bettering our agriculture.

WORM FARM II

I've been getting a lot of flack for not following through with my WORM FARM creation. This is because every one is jealous that it is the most viewed post on the food justice blog. Well, since it's spring break, I've decided to deliver. Here it is: How To Build Your Own Worm Farm (maybe, because I don't know if the worms are going to live or not.)


First, you have to get a container for the farm. You can do this in a big plastic tub, or anything else. I used this weird old wooden shelf that was in our back yard. Previously, it was full of dirt, so I dug it out.

Then, for no real reason, I put some cardboard on the bottom. I think it was because I was afraid the worms were going to try and escape. 

Then, because I thought the cardboard would be harsh and scary for the worms, I put some dirt on top of that. 

Apparently worms really like newspaper. I don't know why worms like newspaper. But I ran over to The Cooler to get a stack of old New York Times to accomodate them. We had recently taken out the recycling and didn't have any just lying around. 

So then you have to to tear the paper in to strips. About one inch thick, but no one is measuring, so don't be exact about it. In the beginning, I tried cutting with scissors, but that was too hard and made my hand cramp, so I would definitely recommend tearing. 

Wet those paper puppies down. They need to be damp, so the worms' little bodies don't dry up, but you don't want them to be too too wet, either. That could attract gross smells and maybe kill the worms. I don't know, but they're just not supposed to be super wet according to what I read. When putting them down, make sure they're fluffed up and not just a big mush of last friday's top news stories. 

Concerned that the worms might get homesick for their previous lives, I put a little bit more dirt in. This is also supposed to be good because it puts a bit of grit in to the worm's system, makes them tough.

Once again, I added some more newspaper. In all, it took me about nine New York Times, so if you plan on doing this at home, start saving your papers more than a week in advance.

And now, I reveal to you; The Worms:

I spent about two hours digging these suckers up. I'm not a worm expert, nor do I pretend to be, but I think there are three different types of worms in the FEAST garden, at least that I saw. The first are red and when you pick them up they squirm like crazy. The second are really gross looking, like a yellow/green color and just curled up. And then the third are standard earthworms, some of which were incredibly massive. I heard the red ones are supposed to be the best at composting, but I also thought that it would be nice to have a diverse worm population, so I just threw the whole bunch in a wished them luck. 

The worms need food, and the best way to do this is to add your food scraps. Be mindful, however, that worms really do not like onions, citrus, or anything else that is sting-y, since their whole bodies are very sensitive. Also, don't put meat in with the worms. Meat is universally agreed to be something you don't put in compost. As you can see in the picture, there are some carrot peelings, but later I threw in some gross blueberries after making a pie. 

Next, you have to put a top on it, to keep the moisture in and the heat out. I just used some cardboard and rocks.

After this, you just leave your worms to stew, occasionally putting in more food and adding a little bit of water. Worms eat about half of their body weight in a day, and reproduce pretty quickly, doubling their population in a month, so as time goes on, make sure you keep adding food. I don't know what to do with the worms once they're ready to be farmed, or how to gather their waste, but when I get to that point, I'll let you know what goes down.

Hopefully you are now prepared to make a worm farm of your own. If not, just use google. There are plenty of sites with advice much more expertise than my own.

WORM FARM

I'm making a worm farm.

It's going to look like this:

But my worm farm is going to be in this weird empty drawer that someone left in the backyard. Previously, it was filled with tons of weeds, but I cleared those this weekend. Hooray for reusing things! The FOOD JUSTICE garden is lacking in worms, so instead of going to the store and buying worms, we might as well farm our own. Worms are good. They are great when you're trying to compost things more quickly. They eat dirt and stuff and then, when they poop it out, it's magically super nutritious and good for plants. I don't know why, and it seems kind of gross, but whatever.

As I'm doing this project, I'm going to try to take pictures and make a little DIY blog, so get pumped to make your own awesome worm farm at home. Huzzah!