One of my biggest concerns for modern farming and the use of growth hormones and genetically modified (GMO) food and animals is that the scientists developing these things are not allowing mother nature to work. They are interrupting the natural law of how things grow.
I have seen documentaries on chickens that are fed food that makes their bodies grow super fast so they reach market weight almost 2 sometimes 3 months sooner than what is natural. All in the name of profit - grow chickens faster make more money! The results are chickens who can not stand even to get water, they have to drag their bodies across the pen floor to eat and drink. Their organs and bone structure does not grow at the same rate as their muscles so some of them die suddenly due to organ failure. And the worst part of all of this is we are eating this meat everyday when you go to the grocery store and buy a package of drumsticks, boneless breast of chicken, or even a rotisserie chicken already cooked.
Think of how much chicken must be used in a day in the USA and where it comes from? Every supermarket and restaurant in the US carries some form of chicken and most can be linked back to these "Modern Farms" where the chickens are modified - some even have no feathers or are blinded! And what is worse is the FDA and USDA is forcing farmers to farm this way! To meet demand. If they do not comply then they do not get contracts to sell their birds to companies like Tyson or Perdue. So in order for these farmers to continue farming the way their families have for generations is to comply with the demands of the Corporate world. They have families to feed too, so we can not hold them at fault or call them sell outs, they are survivalists.
But something is going wrong. Farmers who have to feed their families by making a living are saying NO. They are closing down, selling off, or even finding alternative and creative ways to sell their livestock. They see what is happening to the animals and even our own health in the USA from using these growth hormones and GMOs in the food. It is unnatural even if the FDA and USDA say it is fine. They say BPA and Pink slime is fine too which is full of ammonia - or even flouride in the water and toothpaste is fine when it has been proven to cause cancers, Alzheimers, and hormone inhibitors. When are we going to learn?
The food we are being sold in the stores is massed produced. Even your vegetables and fruit are being grown on such large scales that they companies are taking every short cut imaginable to meet demand. Think of the quality of a t-shirt you buy for $5.00 at Walmart. Then think of a t-shirt you buy at some place like LL Bean for $50.00. Now compare the two - the quality of the cotton, how the item is sewn, the dyes used to color it, they are probably both made in some 3rd world country so that will be the same but demand and price dictate which shirt will be better for you - in quality, in how it fits, and in how long it will last. There really is no comparison. But how many people can afford the more expensive t-shirt? So they buy the $5.00 one. That is the same with the food. If companies like Walmart are going to meet the demand for $5.00 t-shirts, then they need to make it the cheapest and fastest way possible. That is how they can keep their prices down.
The same goes for our food. If the demand is there for lettuce, strawberries, apples and chickens, then the corporate owners are going to find a way to make it the cheapest and fastest way possible so they can sell it to us before someone else does. So if it means they use unscrupulous methods like chemicals, pesticides and breaking the law of nature to meet the demand, they will do it, who cares everyone else is doing it too! We are in danger of losing our quality of life!
I have come a long way from talking about Mondays here but it is so important for everyone to see why growing your own food if you can, even if it is just a small vegetable garden or a few plants in a pot, will help break the cycle of demand on buying corporate grown food. Think back to the 1940s propaganda posters... WWII had just ended and what did the posters say to do? Be an American grow a garden... this is because they did not have the large modern corporate run farms of today and people were starving. Even the government couldn't feed the people so they told people to grow their own! Now it is different. Now they want you to only rely on them, and like sheep or cattle we go to the troughs named Walmart, Sam's Club, Shop Rite, Publix, the list goes on... and purchase the contaminated food that they sell us. Food that has increased cancers and diabetes rates in the US 10 fold since the 1940s. Which has caused the obesity in our children from the hormone inhibitors used to make the chickens and pigs grow faster or cows to produce more milk. If you can't grow you food then go someplace and support the farmers who do practice good farming skills like letting chickens reach market weight in the own time. Free range organic eggs, organic vegetables, raw milk, yes I said raw unpasteurized milk! Do you know that when you heat the milk up it kills all the beneficial properties we need from the milk. Basically we are drinking colored water! That is why they add things back into it like Vitamin D - Don't take my word for it.. research it - the information is all there in black and white everywhere you look.
The links below is to a you tube videos on chickens and one farmer who is making a change and the other is on Monsanto who is the main corporation who uses GMOs (did I mention they also developed Agent Orange used in Vietnam) now they make our food??? The documentary Food, Inc is a must see in its entirety - unfortunately due to copy rights it is not viewable on youtube anymore, but many places have it for sale or rent. But I must warn you that if you do watch it you may never eat the same again. But you will be healthier for it that is for sure. So let's all make a difference and show support for the Farmers who are fighting this, who are trying to bring us good old fashion high quality food without hormones or pesticides in it. Buy local, buy organic, or better yet grow your own!
Industrial Chicken Farming
Monsanto GMO food