The 2006 documentary The Future of Food investigates the potential risks of new technologies being used in the food industry, as well as the growing dangers of corporately owned life.
Genetically modified organisms (GMO’s) are forms of life that have undergone genetic transformations by human interventions. Most often, the motivation behind modifying an organisms gene’s is to get some new function from the organism that it didn’t previously exhibit, like having a mouse glow in the dark, or designing a more resilient strain of canola.
While there are many benefits of GMO’s, like increased crop yield, and new ways to create medicines, this film covers the negative impacts of genetically altering life.
GMO’s are relatively untested on humans, and when genes are mixed and matched the risks of unforeseen allergic reactions increases. Even more dangerous is the fact that once a genetically modified organism is released into the environment, it is essentially uncontrollable, and the long term impacts of GMO’s on our world is unknown.
Equally frightening is how large corporations like Monsanto are patenting life, claiming genes as being corporate property, and how they use their patents to sue farmers whose fields have been invaded by GMO plants. Even worse, is how Monsanto is spreading their seeds around the world (to 3rd world countries) at a discounted rate, so that the plants that they own invade every ecosystem on earth. The potential ramifications of one single organization owning all of the staple crops everywhere are scary.
The Future of Food is an eye-opening think piece, even if it only presents one side of the debate. A copy can be found on Google Video by clicking here.
