Food documentary film: Food Inc

Food, Inc
Release date(s)        
September 7, 2008 (TIFF)
June 12, 2009 (United States)
Running time        93 minutes


It is free to watch online and documented the ugly sides of American food systems. Now I do admit the film is not perfect: it sometimes uses too much emotions rather than facts. But it is almost a perfect starting point to get to know what the difference between cheap fast food and natural/organic food is.

Anyone cares to know how people process the food he/she eats really really should watch it.  
If one is not good at English, just watch it on youku with Chinese subtitles.

It is ture, American foods are very cheap. But do you what you are really eating?

I recently watched the film, the future of food (2004). If anyone wants to watch it, search it online. One shall be able to find free online version to watch.


The film is about the GM food’s problems. In case someone wants to have a brief of the film or don't want to spend 1.5 hours to watch the film, please read my summary below about the dangers of GM food. I will only talk about the impact directly upon customer’s health. Other topics such as moral issues of patenting a life are not my concern right here.


1.        The out-crossing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outcrossing) is inevitable and happening. What I mean is the modified genes can spread to other planets while growing these GM plants. For instance, GM corns can contaminate non-GM corns. No one can really control the spreading of modified genes. Because these GM plants are very invasive, the out-crossing is not only inevitable but also happening extremely fast. Even if the farmers are growing non-GM food, their fields can be invaded by modified genes. And it is very hard, if not impossible for farmers to tell.

The direct impact upon health is it is now very hard to track the modified genes in food. In 2005 U.S., a lady had serious allergic reactions (may cause death) and went to a hospital for emergency medical service because she ate GM food (Corn) which is not allowed to be in human food. Such a problem is caused mainly by out-crossing.

It is very common for human to have allergies from mild level to extreme level. It is also very common for serious allergies to kill people. Eating food without knowing if the food is affected by out-crossing of GM food(Some GM plants are only allowed to feed animals), which is harmful to certain people, is like playing with Russian roulette. You take your chances.


The worst part is the industry does not want GM food to be labeled. They claimed labels may cause unnecessary fears before costumers got educated.
Which is just like a dictator tells his/her people, "because you are stupid, I am going to rule without telling you anything".

If fact, out-crossing already created super weeds in U.S., but since the impact upon customers’ health is not direct, I am not going to discuss about super weeds.

The industry of GM food claimed the out-crossing would never happen. Unfortunately it did.  Now they claimed they found the solution for the out-crossing: the terminator plants, which kill plants contaminated by out-crossing.

But what if the terminating genes get spread by out-crossing?

2.        GM food destroys the diversity of life. Because they are very strong and invasive, GM plants could squeeze out non-GM plants’ out from the game quickly. What I mean is GM plants could extinguish non-GM plants very fast. And because of the out-crossing, it is impossible to control GM contaminations. Wherever GM food grows, wherever genes contamination goes.

Why diversity matters? Because putting all eggs in one box is not good. The great famine happened in 19th century of Ireland and killed approximately one million Irish people, which is around 20-25% decline in population. The direct cause was a potato disease that just kills most, of not all potatoes in Ireland. While the same disease bothered Chile, the effects were smaller.

The reason is in Chile farmers grew hundreds of different kinds of potatoes while Ireland only did   or 5 ones at that time. So when Chile still had some potatoes unaffected, Ireland had nothing left to feed its people.

Everything I summaried above can be found in the film. Please watch the film if you care to explore more about GM's food's problems.