Two friends who don’t know each other sent me links to look at today. The first was an article inspired by all of the H1N1 (“Swine Flu”) hype:

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/05/05/Swine-Flu-Update.aspx And the second is a video entitled “The Future of Food”:

http://www.hulu.com/watch/67878/the-future-of-food How are these related? Perhaps I’ll give a little information from the article first:

On February 27, 2009 it was confirmed that an influenza vaccine maker, Baxter International, had released a mixture of seasonal influenza viruses mixed with unlabeled live bird flu viruses to facilities in Czechoslovakia, Germany, and Slovenia. Baxter, which is waiting for a license to manufacturer bird flu vaccine, explained it was an "accident" and that no harm was done.
On April 23, 2009, the world heard the first news reports about a mysterious pig (H1N1) and bird (H5N1)and human hybrid influenza virus that was making people sick near a Mexican pig farm. By April 30, the WHO had issued a Phase 5 "Alert" warning that the world was facing an imminent pandemic influenza epidemic on the strength of several hundred cases of "swine" flu and less than 10 confirmed deaths.

There was quite an outcry over the mix-up with the bird flu and influenza. I hadn’t quite put these two things together yet but this is a new thought. If the problem is man-made, there are several possible views that could be taken. Some people would say that it is Obama trying to gain more power. Discount that idea, please. The news media and politicians will jump at the chance to appear active (even if it does cost a lot) and it is a great way to distract us from how little Obama and everyone else is able to do about the “recession.” An alternate idea would be that this is a mistake or that we are dabbling with something we don’t understand as well as we like to think. That is more or less the position that the video took on our food supply, but before turning to that let’s quote the article one more time:

In all the chaos that has Americans running to drug stores to buy face masks, closing schools to wipe desks down with rubbing alcohol and avoiding public transportation, there is action being taken behind the scenes by politicians and government health officials to prepare the way for implementation of future quarantine and mass vaccination of citizens with experimental vaccines and drugs that have by- passed normal FDA regulations for demonstrating purity and potency of pharmaceutical products.

The answer to a problem is to push through a solution that we have not verified. Ouch. Necessary at times, yes. A good idea? Not really. Remember Murphy’s Law?

If anything can go wrong, it will.

It also turns out that the models we have based our preparations on for this “pandemic” are not from a strain of the flu (Influenza) after all. It was strep. But before we let off genetic manipulation, let’s turn to the video. It’s an hour and a half long and I am unable to do it full justice because moving pictures are hard to quote. You may wish to watch it when you have a chance. From the beginning of the video I was a little dubious of the contents, but I’m afraid that changed when they began to talk about the lawsuits brought against farmers for patent infringement. These lawsuits have all but forced many farmers to stop storing seed from the previous year for the next – even those who have inherited the farm from their fathers or grandfathers. In order to avoid patent infringement they are buying the seed from seed suppliers each year. The grounds for these lawsuits have to do with genetic markers that have been placed in the modified crops. Cross-pollination with another farmer’s field is enough, it seems, to contaminate your own plants. Because the supreme court and patent office have deemed the work patentable, it doesn’t matter that you have not ever bought or planted genetically modified seeds. One of the major reasons for the outcry and worry over genetically engineered food is that we are essentially using viruses to modify the plants. They are the best invasion and replication method that we know of. My biggest complaint is that the video producers want more regulation and required testing of the genetically modified foods. That is probably good for some things (which is a rare concession from me) but to disallow these patents would solve many of the problems also. Without the monopoly allowed by them, many farmers would begin to use their own seed again. The recovery from this will be slower than the fall into it, but it is possible nevertheless. Subsidies are another item that the video touches on. This is one point that I especially agree with. The people should be able to choose where their money is spent. I’d rather pay the full price of something up front than to have 1/10th of it spent behind my back so that it appears I am paying a lower price for it. This goes for Ethanol too. I’ve said enough. There is more in the video, and they are not as conspiratory as I had expected. The genetic engineering is having an effect though. Some allergies are to the genetic changes rather than the original – though not all allergies come from this (that would make for another post sometime). Just a few things to think about.