
We Owe Food Regulation to a 19th-Century Chemist Who Poisoned His Colleagues - vo2maxer
https://www.eater.com/2020/1/28/21112258/pbs-the-poison-squad-documentary-food-regulation-history-deborah-blum-interview
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sigmaprimus
Enter the lobbyists... Because of the recent creation of the political class
in modern democracies, where people are able to now become career politicians
rather than common people who make the sacrifice of leaving their jobs
temporarily to serve the people.

It has empowered corporations with the ability to corrupt politicians who are
more concerned with getting re-elected rather than protecting the people they
represent.

Just look at how difficult it is to get a lable put on food containing GMO
products and you will see how bad things still are.

Yes there is no longer chalk and formaldehyde in milk, or milk from cows
eating spent mash, but what about steroids, antibiotics, peticide laden grains
and gmo crops?

There is still a very long way to go, and until holding political office
becomes a noble sacrifice rather than something to aspire to, change will be
very difficult if not impossible.

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postpawl
I don’t think labeling GMOs is going to help anything. There’s strong evidence
that GMOs are safe:
[https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/pbi.12798](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/pbi.12798)

I think there’s a much stronger case to be made for getting rid of high
fructose corn syrup subsidies. Added sugar is the real enemy.

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sigmaprimus
Sure GMOs might be safe? Golden Rice? Yes that one is probably good for
humanity, increased protein levels means you can feed more people. But lets
get real, the majority of GMOs being used in agriculture are produced by
Monsanto or Bayer, and what is the improvement that modifying their genes has
made? Oh thats right now you can spray pesticides on them and they won't die!!

Sorry but Roundup ready GMOs might be safe if grown without drenching them in
poison but if the only reason they are "GMO'd" is to allow this, I would
prefer products made with GMO to be labeled.

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postpawl
There’s a study about that too:
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5394230/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5394230/)

“Although GE crops have been previously implicated in increasing herbicide
use, herbicide increases were more rapid in non-GE crops.”

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sigmaprimus
Isn't it sad that herbicide use was increased in both, regardless of the
rapidity?

