Way back in, gosh I think it was September or October, a friend told me she’d eaten an impossible burger and “it was really good.” They were brand new at the time, not every store had them, so, as soon as I got to a city, I tried to find one. I was excited to think that a plant-based burger might taste as good as my beef from the freezer. But in the city, there was nary a one to be found. People like my friend had gotten to the stores before me.
I was pretty bummed. I trust my friend to make good decisions and thought the I.B. might change my life. Because, whenever I’m at a restaurant where I don’t know how they source their meat, I order vegetarian and friends give me funny looks. They know I eat meat at home. Long story short: I don’t eat meat from a factory farm. Animals in factory farms or confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) live in tight quarters — packed together like folks on an elevator. Diseases are a problem. Stress is a problem. Why, you might ask, does the government allow it?
And, in corporate slaughterhouses, there aren’t enough inspectors to do a good job. And the lines of carcasses go by too fast for a proper examination. So who knows if they’re clean or not? A number of human diseases, from swine flu to urinary tract infections, have been traced to the industrial system of animal agriculture. So, when I’m at a restaurant that I don’t know, I order a salad.
OK. So I was trying to find an Impossible Burger but no luck. And, now, when they’re available nationally, I’m really glad I couldn’t find one. Because, Googling around, I’ve learned that one of the main ingredients, and probably THE main ingredient is soybeans, genetically modified soybeans, introduced in 1996 by Monsanto, and those are just plain trouble.
Genetically modified soybeans (also called “GMO” or “genetically engineered”) come from plants that are immune to certain herbicides. Their genes have actually been changed to make them immune to the poison treatments. This is so the fields can be sprayed any time in the growing season and the weeds will be killed but the plants keep growing.
Yes, there’s run-off from the fields to the ditches and from there into the creeks, rivers, ocean and aquifer under the ground. Again, I hear you asking, why does the government allow it?
The first GMO soybeans were immune to glyphosate, an herbicide that’s been used everywhere — farms, golf courses, playgrounds, parks, driveways — and sold under the name “Roundup.” A few years ago, it was labeled as a probable carcinogen by the World Health Organization. Today, there are an estimated 10,000 cancer victims pushing lawsuits against Bayer, owner of Monsanto, which manufactured glyphosate for so many years. And still does.
It wasn’t long before weeds became immune to that herbicide. So, now, more lethal poisons are being used and the genetic structure of the plants is being changed even more. The more lethal poisons — 2,4D and dicamba — are the same herbicides used to make Agent Orange, a combination that defoliated the jungles of Vietnam so American pilots could see villages and farmers to bomb them. Those guys that came back from ‘Nam found that they came down with cancers and other diseases — Parkinson’s is a big one — and Veterans’ Administration doctors blame the Agent Orange.
Interestingly, soybeans are the number one crop that gets this herbicide treatment. Corn, yes, has been genetically modified, as have alfalfa, apples, canola, cotton, papaya, potatoes, squash and sugar beets.
For the answer on why the government allows industry to put out one GMO crop after another with little oversight, we need to think back to the Bush/Quayle days when Dan Quayle declared war on regulations of any kind. Industry began hiring former Food and Drug Administration (FDA) employees, paying them more than the government could and touting the “sound science” these folks brought to industry’s labs. As the New York Times put it in 2001: “What Monsanto wished for from Washington, Monsanto — and, by extension, the biotechnology industry — got … And when the company abruptly decided that it needed to throw off the regulations and speed its foods to market, the White House quickly ushered through an unusually generous policy of self-policing.”
That “generous policy of self-policing” quickly leaked through the Washington veils until, today, it’s part of most sectors of the food industry. Slaughterhouses can bring in their own inspectors, who may or may not have training. Organic farmers can declare their own adherence to the guidelines and inspectors, who do at this point have training, may or may not notice how the crop really gets to market. So, the brand new Impossible Burger is just that—impossible.
Just another way to eat soybeans.
Margot Ford McMillen farms near Fulton, Mo., and co-hosts “Farm and Fiddle” on sustainable ag issues on KOPN 89.5 FM in Columbia, Mo. She also is a co-founder of CAFOZone.com, a website for people who are affected by concentrated animal feeding operations. Her latest book is “The Golden Lane: How Missouri Women Gained the Vote and Changed History”. Email: margotmcmillen@gmail.com.
From The Progressive Populist, February 15, 2020
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