A Favorite Non-Gardening Blog
Does anyone else out there read the White House blog?
Maybe it’s not something everyone would admit to, but I read this blog from time to time and find it very interesting. With as many as 5-10 posts per day, many of them very long, I certainly don’t keep up with them all. I do however come across some real gems from time to time, like this recent one entitled Newt Gingrich Gets It Wrong.
Okay, I’m biased. In general I like Obama and the direction he’s trying to go in. I’m also no fan of Newt Gingrich. More than anything however, I think this is just a very well written piece and the White House really understands the concept of a blog and what to use it for.
A blog is really a personal expression of who you are and what you want to say. When you read someone else’s blog, you really gain a very personal insight into who they are and what they’re thinking. Of course Obama doesn’t write any of the posts himself, but instead has people close to him who are experts write for him, and it really offers an insight into the White House that’s never existed before. You can see exatly what’s got their attention and what they are working on at the moment, in near real time.
One of the most valuable things about a blog is the lack of rules. For example, I’ve been criticized in the past for identifying foods you should not eat or eat less of, in particular meat and other processed foods. This of course violates the idea you should only promote healthy foods, like the 5 servings of fruit and vegetables we are all supposed to care about. I’ve been criticized for not being a good journalist or scientist. Of course I’ve said many things that have upset people in general.
The truth of course is that I don’t represent the interests of the food industry, and I’m not writing as a journalist or scientist. Therefore, I’m simply not bound by the corresponding rules, and you end up seeing a more personal side of me than you might otherwise. Having said this, I do put some effort into not intentionally saying things that aren’t true, and don’t intentionally upset people just for the sake of doing it.
When President Obama makes a speech, or the White House gives a press conference, there are rules and protocols that go with this. Beyond that, it’s up to the various TV networks and news publications to further filter and condense what was said. Something like the post I linked to above about Newt Gingrich would never survive this sort of condensing and processing, and the average person is unlikely to ever get that message.
The White House blog is not bound by the rules of traditional media. I really like that I can go there directly, see the information they want me to see, presented in the way they want me to see it. I think it reflects well on the Obama administration that they can do this so effectively. I think this kind of communication is changing Democracy the way we know it.
New Frontiers in Genetic Engineering
I was browsing some older posts from Matt’s blog, and I came across this.
In fact this is something I’ve known for a while, and coincidentally sent Matt an email about the other day, but I’ve never posted here on the subject.
It’s just a fact, the science of genetic engineering (GE) is quickly moving out of the laboratory and into the home. Not just in our ability to buy products that are themselves a result of GE, but also in our own ability to make GE organisms.
Already, if you have a well equiped home, it’s possible to do an awful lot. The cost of this equipment is within the budgets of many people, it’s only getting cheaper and it’s accuracy increasing.
The amount of publicly available data that can assist GE is also increasing at a dramatic rate; including things like decoded genomes and cataloges of marker genes (a fancy term that just means genes with a known trait). All of this applies to plants, microorganisms, animals and even humans.
So while the debate now often centers on the latest Roundup ready gene Monsanto inserted into our soybeans, tomorrow it could be the latest accident caused by a teenager or the mess intentionally caused by someone knowledgeable.
I often compare GE to abortions. I don’t really think it makes sense for anyone to be for or against abortions. An abortion is just a medical procedure. You can argue if it’s immoral, talk about it in terms of legal or illegal, safe or unsafe, early or late, but you can never deny the existence of the procedure itself.
This is really where we are now with GE. It doesn’t make sense to call it good or bad. The genie is out of the bottle. Now it’s time to start learning as much as possible as quickly as possible about the science, and to focus honestly and diligently on what the real risks are.
In the meantime, this crap doesn’t belong in our food or the environment, until we’ve had a chance to honestly research and learn more about it!
Blogs to Watch
My recent post on Monsanto stirred up quite a commotion! I was having a look at some of the people who commented and followed the links back to their blogs, and I discovered a couple of new ones I hadn’t seen before, that deserved special attention.
Matt of The Scientist Gardener is studying the unintended side-effects and safety of plant genetic engineering. Now here’s a field that’s going to be in the spotlight! Even if he and I may not choose to grow the same things in our gardens, I’m really looking forward to following his blog and staying in touch.
Raymondo of New from Old is someone I know from elsewhere on the Internet, and he has a new blog. An amateur plant breeder in Australia, getting started on some really interesting looking projects.
Monsanto in Cyberspace
Monsanto is Here
A number of posts have been made in recent weeks on different blogs about Monsanto buying nearly all commercial seed companies, everywhere. There was a particularly good one on the Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog.
It’s pretty clear in the aftermath of all this consolidation, the next frontier for Monsanto is the Internet.
This blog has received quite a number of requests for Monsanto seed companies to be added to my list of recommended sources of seeds in recent weeks, and comments challenging old posts I’ve made critical of Monsanto are also starting to come in. Note the one here dated Jan 26th from ‘Rick’.
A discussion forum I frequently participate on also just had some visitors from Monsanto. At least one of these visitors had actually been around for months, and out of the blue just started spewing nonsense about how good Monsanto’s seed companies were. He did this together with someone else, so it sort of looked somehow like a legitimate conversation was taking place.
He started by giving a list of his favorite seed companies, including some many well known and trusted places like Baker Creek, Sandhill and Seed Savers Exchange, then went on to include some relatively unknown Monsanto seed companies and started promoting them.
Common Theme
Until now, all of these visits have had a common theme. Monsanto is ‘normal’. Each one has in some way tried to promote Monsanto as a normal seed company, and people who don’t want to grow seeds from Monsanto are somehow extreme.
These visits have included marketing slogans like ‘Most experienced gardeners trust Johnny’s.’ In particular, the theme that Johnny’s is somehow a trusted place to buy seeds seems to reoccur. Any blog or other place on the Internet that recommends Johnny’s Seeds is suspect as advertising for Monsanto.
The Truth
The real truth is that us bloggers have been tremendously successful at proving commercial seeds, in particular from Monsanto, have very little legitimacy in a home garden.
When you grow commercial seeds, you can’t re-save them for sharing or replanting. In general your chance of success is often lower, and you usually don’t end up with something worth taking a picture of and posting on your blog. There are very few serious and successful blogs out there about gardens growing commercial seeds, because they just aren’t interesting.
Of course I don’t mean to suggest gardeners who grow a few commercial hybrid seeds are doing something wrong, but these plants don’t usually end up being the ones they post and rave about.
What to Do
I’m afraid more is likely to come! Even if we have a wave of this nonsense and it passes, it’s reasonable to assume Monsanto will keep trying.
In the short run, keep an eye out for it on your blogs and discussion forums. I don’t do Facebook or Twitter, but those of you who do or visit similar places on the Internet, keep an eye on it there too.
If you see someone who seems to be promoting commercial seed companies in the wrong place, be sure to say something. Be sure to mention Monsanto, and don’t accept being told that growing seeds from Monsanto is somehow normal! If they persist, ask them about who they are and what they are doing there. Make sure you are very clear that you think what they are saying is wrong and just nonsense.
Be sure and talk about your experiences other places on the Internet, so the rest of us can be prepared to cope with the same thing. By all means, please use this post as a place to leave comments on this.
Dumping High Fructose Corn Syrup
Since I’ve been to the US twice in the last couple of years, one of the things I’ve noticed is the apparent increasing rejection of High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS). A year ago, it was astonishing. Everything, just absolutely everything was full of HFCS, and excruciatingly sweet.
There’s little doubt, I wasn’t the only one who noticed this. Friends and family noticed too, and when I was back last November it was clear there was increasing demand for products that didn’t contain HFCS. Soft drinks are becoming available, and more and more other products, that are just made with normal sugar. This almost certainly was connected with the world wide shortages of cane and beet sugar over the last year or so.
Where did it go?
If Americans aren’t eating HFCS anymore, it must have gone somewhere.
It’s pretty clear Europe is at least one of the recipients of the surplus. They don’t call it by the same name here. It’s usually called something like ‘glucose syrup’ or ‘glucose-fructose syrup’. It seems to go under a number of names. These are in a lot of foods and beverages here by now. I especially notice it in a lot of beers and sweet alcoholic drinks marketed towards young people. It’s also in many processed foods.
It does not seem to have any so-called European E-numbers associated with it, I guess because it’s not an additive but rather a foodstuff. For those of you reading this who aren’t in Europe, because of the number of different languages here, and because it helps the food industry hide what they add to food, they have created a special coding system for food additives. I would have to think about the the politics of it not having an E number a little more, but I guess consumers are more reluctant to buy E-numbers now, and perhaps it was an issue to get HFCS certified as a safe food additive.
What’s wrong with it?
Besides many people disliking the taste, HFCS is associated with many health problems. It’s use as a food additive in the US corresponds almost exactly to the increase of obesity and related health problems we’ve seen in recent decades. It’s associated with diabetes, gout and many other health problems.
If you’re trying to avoid eating GM foods, you should avoid this too. It’s not necessarily made with GM corn, but often is. According to Monsanto and other large food companies, processing will remove GMOs from this product. That means, even though it may be made from GM corn, it is legal for sale as a food in Europe. There hasn’t been any independent confirmation of food industry claims that GMOs are removed, and many people dispute it. Nevertheless, it is legal for sale in Europe, GM or not. There is also no requirement to label it as a GM food.
