Mattingly 1
Ezekiel Mattingly
Jaime Mc-Beth Smith
English 1010 position synthesis
November/17/2012
What are we really eating?
Sometime between 1906 and 1910 American scientists started testing chemicals on
produce to make the produce more durable. The scientists wanted to find a chemical
(preservatives) that could make the produce withstand droughts, floods, and cold climates.
After successfully engineering the food to be more durable in 1922 American scientist started
working on engineering the crops so the bugs would not eat the produce (pesticides). After
America successfully engineered the produce in grocery stores the food was still being
advertised as naturally grown products, but is it naturally in our food farmers spray their crops
with pesticides to keep insects away; and distributors put preservatives on the vegetables
making the vegetables biochemically engineered to last longer in our refrigerators? This is a
legal marketing method commonly known by the news as food fraud. The biggest parts of food
fraud are pesticides, preservatives, and canola oil. Canola oil is the oil that fast food restaurants
use to deep fry foods; it is also the oil that bakery’s put in their dough to make so it doesn’t
stick to the pan. The pesticides and preservatives are both wrong and essential; however the
canola oil is not essential or helpful to those who eat the food but the food producers still put it
in food and sale it. This is an important issue because most people don’t know about the
pesticides, preservatives, and canola oil in their food.
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In other country’s crops are eaten by insects before they can be harvested and they
cannot be shipped very far because of the expiration date. In America the pesticides allow
farmers to harvest more of the crops they planted, and preservatives give us enough time to
ship the produce before it goes rotten. With more crops harvested there are less people
starving in America and the prices of food go down. We also have enough time to sell and ship
the product between states.
However a common question that arises is: what are the pesticides doing to the people
who eat the produce? Most people who research this say that the amounts consumed at one
time are to small do any permanent damage to people, also that the pesticides leave the body
before they can hurt any major organs. These people are conducting their experiments through
calculations and estimates of human cell mutatio. Some people who bring research this issue
bring out that engineering the seeds get rid of a number of facto rs and
uncertainties such as the fact that the engineered seeds can go through a drought
or a flood and still be harvested. The researchers also bring out the fact and charts
representing the amount of people that don’t have to go hungry. After looking at these charts
the researchers ignore the facts that the crops that have been engineered now have chemicals
that will kill insects which are being consumed by humans on all over the country
On the other hand a few of the many people who have researched this issue come up
with the conclusion that the pesticides are causing cancer and asthma. The researchers who
claim that pesticides are causing cancer and asthma are looking into the long term results.
These researchers are conducting long term experiments to see the effects on rodents with
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short life spans and high cell mutation. After conducting these experiments the researchers
bring out the charts of the rodents who had cancer or asthma because of the pesticides; also
the estimates people who have died young from diseases and the charts of the people who will
spend the rest of the lives in pain because of chemicals in their food.
In addition The researcher: Schmickle wrote about billion dollar industries working with
the government to try to hide the pesticides in the food labels by changing the name of the
chemical to something completely different so that common Americans won’t know what they
are eating. He brings up the charts of the money the industries make by engineering the seeds,
and the taxes the government receives from the industries. It follows, then the government has
passed laws allowing the seeds to be engineered and for pesticides to be sprayed on crops.
However the USDA (U.S. Division of Agriculture) is still debating on the future of
biotechnology in agriculture, international trade on bioch emical engineered food,
and on how best to build public confidence in rapidly evolving emerging technologies in
general. This means that the crops that have been changed can’t be traded into other
countries. Some researchers think this is because the government doesn’t want other countries
crops to be successful, and others think this is because the government doesn’t want to be
responsible for food poisoning in other countries.
Furthermore the biggest part of the issue: food fraud is canola oil. Canola oil is a product
put in bread and used for deep frying foods in restaurants; that has been FDA approved. You
can find canola oil in grocery stores and in bread, but the easiest way to find canola oil is to go
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to an oil refinery in Canada. This is because the definition of canola oil is: oil drilled out of
Canada.
Most of the people who research canola oil end up with the conclusion that canola oil is
harmful. They bring out facts such as: the fact that canola means Canadian and that the oil is
drilled out of the ground by Canadians with the intentions to use it as fuel; but when the
Canadians find out that the oil wasn’t ready to be drilled America buys it and puts it in food.
Some researchers also bring up the fact that it is classified as GRAS (Generally Recognized As
Safe) by the FDA. Most researchers find that canola oil is toxic. After discovering this some
researchers want to know how canola oil became a food product. It started out as Rapeseed oil
but it was so toxic that animals and bugs wouldn’t eat it. For the first half of the 19th century it
was used as machinery oil. Using the oil only for machinery wasn’t producing enough money to
keep drilling it so the government gave it a second name: canola oil; and was introduced as a
food product.
Despite the fact that canola oil is food fraud some researchers say that the positive side
of putting machinery oil in food is: the government saves money by putting canola oil in food.
The canola oil costs a lot less for the government to buy than natural oils like olive oil; and
putting canola oil in the food makes food cost less to make. The food is sold at the same price
as the food made with olive oil. The FDA approved canola oil in food because they get the same
amount of tax money from the food, but it cost less to make; which helps the economy.
In conclusion, the pesticides and preservatives are both wrong and essential; however
the canola oil is not essential or helpful to those who eat the food but the food producers still
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put it in food and sale it. This is an important issue because most people don’t know about the
pesticides, preservatives, and canola oil in their food. Then this is a complicated issue because
the people are relying on the chemicals that are killing them; and the debate of whether or not
we should engineer the food is going to continue until scientists find a new way to save crops
from insects and preserve food long enough to sell and ship it across the country. For now
people need to realize that the engineering food is the only way to keep up with the
populations demands. However the canola oil does not help save the food from insects, or
preserve it for the people who buy it. Canola oil only makes food cheaper to make; the oil does
not make the food cheaper to buy. People need to look at both sides of this issue and realize
that the engineered food is both helpful and harmful to America. Until we stop relying on the
engineered food there is nothing we can do about it.
Work cited:
Caswell Magriet. "The First Decade of Genetically Engineered Crops in the United
States." The First Decade of Genetically Engineered Crops in the United States. April 2006: i-5.
SIRS Government Reporter. Web.11/3/12
Fassa, Paul. “Canola Oil is a Classic Example of Food Fraud” Thursday, August 19, 2010,
Naturalnews.com 11/3/12
Helmenstine, Anne. “What is Canola oil?” Time. 9 January 2011 Web.11/3/12
"IFT Scientific Report on Biotechnology and Foods." IFT Scientific Report on
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Biotechnology andFoods. Sept. 20 2000: n.p. SIRS Government Reporter. 11/3/12
Schmickle, S. (2008, Jun 17). The art of selling genetically altered food // the
biotechnology