Economic Growth vs. Betterment of Health
Aaron J Hudson
Prof. John Chaffee
Life is valuable; so valuable and precious that it is often taken for
granted. It is assumed that the next day will come and life will go on as usual. It
is also assumed that our lives are so resilient to anything foreign, we subject our
bodies to harsh chemicals and toxins on a daily basis without a second thought or
care. Is that an assumption or is that lack of knowledge of what we really subject
our bodies to? But wait; am I speaking of every individual who walks our
depleting Earth? Or am I speaking of our capitalistic economy that sees the green
lining their pockets more important than the green we walk on? This past week
was filled with guest speakers who spoke on various topics which related directly
to and questioned the ethics of business. I have chosen to use Dr. Karlyn Koh’s
subject of Ethical Issues in Science and the Forum on Public Health and the
Environment to clarify my views and analysis of the question at hand.
We prepped for Dr. Koh’s class by reading an article by Michael Pollan
titled, “Playing GOD in the Garden”. This article focused on a new breed of
potatoes called the New Leaf Superior which has been genetically engineered to
produce its own insecticide. This is an ingenious idea for the farmers of these
potatoes. Theoretically, this potato has a built in security system that destroys
those pesky beetles who decide to take a nibble on them. Not a theory any longer,
these new breed of potatoes do just that; after these beetles take a bite of the
“alien” potato, they digest a bacterial toxin which has proven to be fatal. Well,
does this fatal toxin have the same effect on humans? Has this theory been tested
by the manufacturers of this super spud? Or does it matter to them at all? Per
Phil Angell, employed by Monsanto, says the following, “Monsanto should not
have to vouchsafe the safety of biotech food, our interest is in selling as much of it
as possible. Assuring its safety is the F.D.A.’s job.” This is a direct quote from the
manufacturer themselves who says is layman terms, we’re not worried about
safety, income is out primary concern. How do we as Americans take this
response? This article was written in 1998 so by now we may have been eating
these mutant spuds for sometime now without even knowing it. It is obvious
from this quote alone that our safety is not a factor in the eyes of the corporations
manufacturing the food we eat. It’s that bottom, double-underlined, line that
matters most. So do we, as Americans, have a little more care about our intake of
pesticides, I meant food? Here’s another situation…
The Forum on Public Health consisted of a panelists of individuals
focusing on Breast Cancer, what we can do to prevent this disease, and the blind
eye that corporations want us to have when it comes to their so-called efforts in
fighting this disease. Barbara Brenner of Breast Cancer Action in California,
Laura Weinberg of the Great Neck Breast Cancer Coalition, and Karen Joy Miller
of Prevention is the Cure were all very organized, knowledgeable, and thorough
in the presentations. There are so many organizations and corporations who
paint such a beautiful picture of their efforts in helping the fight against Breast
Cancer, but, underneath the façade of lies, there lies the truth that the majority of
funds donated to the cause are recycled right back into their organization. Let’s
take Yoplait Yogurt for example; they offer to all their consumers that for every
label of yogurt sent back to their corporation, the corporation will donate “X”
amount of cents to the Breast Cancer Coalition. This is a not so obvious gimmick
that touches the hearts of sincere consumers who in turn does this to “do their
part” and expect Yoplait to fulfill their end of the bargain. Yoplait does their part
and donates cents on the dollar, for every label returned, to the Breast Cancer
Coalition. But here’s how they get you; the amount of Yoplait a consumer needs
to eat, the number of labels that are sent back to Yoplait, and the postage used to
send out the labels directly relates to Yoplait’s profits. Yoplait still makes out
with the upper hand. The money they donate does not come close to the profit
they make on their increased sales of their yogurt. An even larger contradiction
with Yoplait’s gimmick is that some of the ingredients used to make their
yogurt…are cancer causing. This alone defeats the entire purpose of the Yoplait
organization. Again, we see that even though the primary objective is a little
more subtle than Monsanto and their super spuds, Yoplait’s number one goal is
still their income.
Business ethics? In my mind, this is not only an oxymoron, but it’s just
about non-existent. Everything comes down to money. It is not about the green
we walk on, but the money that is made from such non-ethical values. Our health
is important to us, each individual. But the ugly monster of capitalism rears its
head and suggests that our primary focus should be to succeed rather than to
adhere to our health.