Posted by Leslie Fulbright on October 10, 2012 at www.carighttoknow.orgNEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE, by Michael Pollan, October 10, 2012
Is this the year that the food movement finally enters politics?
One of the more interesting things we will learn on Nov. 6 is whether or not there is a "food movement" in America worthy of the name - that is, an organized force in our politics capable of demanding change in the food system. People like me throw the term around loosely, partly because we sense the gathering of such a force, and partly (to be honest) to help wish it into being by sheer dint of repetition. Clearly there is growing sentiment in favor of reforming American agriculture and interest in questions about where our food comes from and how it was produced. And certainly we can see an alternative food economy rising around us: local and organic agriculture is growing far faster than the food market as a whole. But a market and a sentiment are not quite the same thing as a political movement - something capable of frightening politicians and propelling its concerns onto the national agenda
California's Proposition 37, which would require that genetically modified (G.M.) foods carry a label, has the potential to do just that - to change the politics of food not just in California but nationally too. Now, there is much that's wrong with California's notorious initiative process: it is an awkward, usually sloppy way to make law. Yet for better or worse, it has served as a last- or first-ditch way for issues that politicians aren't yet ready to touch - whether the tax rebellion of the 1970s (Prop 13) or medical marijuana in the 1990s (Prop 215) - to win a hearing and a vote and then go on to change the political conversation across the country.
What is at stake this time around is not just the fate of genetically modified crops but the public's confidence in the industrial food chain. That system is being challenged on a great many fronts - indeed, seemingly everywhere but in Washington. Around the country, dozens of proposals to tax and regulate soda have put the beverage industry on the defensive, forcing it to play a very expensive (and thus far successful) game of Whac-A-Mole. The meat industry is getting it from all sides: animal rights advocates seeking to expose its brutality; public-health advocates campaigning against antibiotics in animal feed; environmentalists highlighting factory farming's contribution to climate change.....
Asking for labeling of food is not enough to stop this from happening. And then not only the food is, but everyday products are containing substances like hormones etc. which are dangerous to our health.Seeing the problem is one thing, but understanding the problem and action upon that understanding is another !
It should stop !
Ak Malten, Pro Peaceful Energy Use
read the complet article - Vote for the Dinner Party
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