What are we eating?

For the past decade, the chemical giant Monsanto has been pushing its (GM) genetically modified Bt corn, designed to make the plants that grow from it pest-proof. But after a mere seven or eight years, destructive rootworms started to develop immunity to the genetic make-up of the modified seed, and are infesting it as before. So farmers are spraying insecticides again.

Some companies saw it coming. American Vanguard bought up a range of insecticide companies and technologies during the successful GM years, betting that Bt corn would start to lose its effectiveness – which, of course, it has. Vanguard is laughing, and so are the rootworms, for scientists warn that their new-found resistance to Bt corn is likely to make them proof against other GM strains as well.

Austria, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Luxembourg and Poland have all banned GM crop outright, and most others, including Spain, which grows the bulk of Europe’s corn, have declared specific areas of their countries to be GM-free – as has Britain. And 89% of British shoppers want meat from GM-fed animals to be labelled as such, so they can choose whether to buy it or not. 72% said they would pay slightly more to be informed about the GM content of what they’re eating. It seems a reasonable request – but in the US, Monsanto recently secured government backing for its genetically engineered products to remain anonymous.

Do we know what we’re eating? No, we do not. The only safe way is to buy food locally, from a known and trusted small source. If, that is, you can find it.