Cloudy With a Chance of Allergies or Autism?

October 26, 2009

Ever wonder what this food fiasco is costing us? You and me? Taxpayers? Well, the Economist recently assembled these jaw-dropping food safety stats in a “Farm to Fork” article in their October 9 issue:

1. There are 26,000 food poisoning cases per 100,000 Americans, every year (an eye-popping 26% of the population)

2. Compare that to only 3,400 cases in the UK, and just 1,200 in France. Stunning.

3. 76 million Americans become ill with food poisoning. That’s as if every child in America were to get sick. All 75 million of them. And then some.

4. Insufficient food safety is costing the US $35 Billion a year (as a benchmark, the entire 2009 budget for the FDA was only $2.4 Billion).

According to the article, “the wave of food scares that has swept America over the past few years has caused a crisis in the country’s $1 trillion food industry” and is resulting in a food fight of epic proportions.

With Michael Pollan on the frontline, we’ve also got Bill Gates touring the globe, espousing the benefits of “technofood” as Chief Technology Advocate of food’s operating system (Monsanto’s genetically engineered, patented and licensed, biotechnology food proteins).

While the recent introduction of “technofood” and the insertion of foreign proteins into our food supply (which began in 1994) has benefited agrichemical shareholders, 300 million stakeholders in the American food supply are seeing inflammatory reactions to food at record rates and the landscape of children’s health has changed.

So, perhaps as we listen to these men, we should also listen to the voices of our children as the EPA calls for grant solicitations to study these genetically engineered plant-induced food allergies, and pause and observe the unforeseen consequences that these foreign proteins appear to be presenting in the 1 in 3 American children with autism, allergies, ADHD or asthma.

Before proceeding further with “technofood” and its licensed-for-profit and novel operating system, perhaps we should stop and listen to our ‘canaries in the coalmine’ who may be trying to sound food’s “Dange-ometer“.

According to the New York Times, Robyn O'Brien is "food's Erin Brockovich." As the founder of AllergyKids, an organization designed to protect the 1 in 3 American children with autism, allergies, ADHD and asthma, Robyn has appeared on Good Morning America, CBS Evening News with Katie Couric and CNN highlighting the role that chemicals in our food supply are having on our health. Born and raised in a conservative Texas family on supply side economics and the Wall Street Journal, Robyn earned a Fulbright Fellowship, an MBA and served as an equity analyst on a multibillion dollar fund prior to moving to Boulder, Colorado with her husband and four children. She is the author of the book, The Unhealthy Truth: How Our Food Is Making Us Sick and What We Can Do About It. Read more >

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Rebecca
October 26, 2009
As someone who works in autism research, this is a thoroughly irresponsible post. We do not yet know the cause(s) of autism, and while these issues should certainly be researched, to claim them outright as the root of a very complex disorder is ignorant and unfair to affected parents and families. Think before you write.
Joe Walsh
October 30, 2009
Not so irresponsible: GMO in a lot of food venues already. Most effect could be on young people. Stop the experimenting on our children. Food industry since '72: grandchild has autism.

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