Before the Obama family moved into the White House, several high-profile food advocates called for the family to build a garden. Sure enough, they did. Or at least their gardeners and chefs did.
Little did people know that this 50 x 20-foot garden would lead to starvation and cancer. That is, if you believe the American Council on Science and Health, which bills itself as a "consumer education consortium concerned with issues related to food,
nutrition, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, lifestyle, the environment and
health."
The group has been accused of taking a majority of its funding from the chemical and pesticide industry, which it denies, saying it has "thousands of donors." Whoever is funding the ACSH, it has decided to take a rather extreme view on the Obama garden. It shared these opinions with the Daily Show:
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| Little Crop of Horrors | ||||
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not just that the ACSH gets skewered (though it does) but that it has a
ridiculous premise: Foods raised without chemicals are bad.
Big Ag has a problem with
organic gardens. In April, an article appeared in Washington D.C.
newspaper The Hill titled "First
lady's organic garden concerns chemical firms." The article's premise
was that companies such as Monsanto and DuPont Chemical didn't mind a
garden, they just felt unappreciated:
As you goabout planning and planting the White House garden, we respectfully
encourage you to recognize the role conventional agriculture plays in
the U.S. in feeding the ever-increasing population, contributing to the
U.S. economy and providing a safe and economical food supply.
that they haven't gotten any love, these firms are playing hardball. Rather than "respectfully encouraging" us to recognize of the value of chemically enhanced agriculture, they're warning of "a serious public health
concern."
Considering Obama and the organic food movement's popularity, Big Ag really should be encouraging home gardening. After all,
home gardens need lots of seeds and it just so happens Monsanto is the largest seed-seller in the world.
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Facts rather than ridicule are democratic and rational ways to take positions between the poles of organized agri-business and environmental activists. I would like to submit the following inputs for consideration:
1. Nature produces some of the most toxic compounds known.
2. Chemicals made by people are not necessarily bad.
3. Organic produce is not always fit for tables, because they may carry heavy metals and pathogens.
4. Chemical-intensive agriculture, led by international corporations, has lifted populous countries such as India, in to grain self-sufficiency. It is also behind the export surpluses generated by nations such as the United States and Australia.
I see no harm in the Obama family taking a considered position on what they would like to grow on their land.
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