fed up: forget bin laden. homeland security needs to investigate the real national threat - our own FDA.

Did you watch yesterday's post?  Doesn't it make you want to revolt?  It should!  And you can! 

I admit, I'm new to the organic food movement.  I'm a bright, well-educated, relatively eco-friendly 35 year old who never understood the power of food until one of my extraordinary BFFs battered me with big scary words like Propyl Gallate and stomach-turning disease statistics, educating me about how truly disgusting my eating habits were.  (Endless gratitude KLF.)

But we don't all have bio-obsessed foodie friends who are going to kick our asses into organic submission. And most Americans don't have a fucking clue what they're eating.  It's not their fault - they just don't know.  But what's worse, even if they did have a clue, they still don't have healthy options at the grocer b/c good food simply isn't stocked on the shelves.  Whole Foods doesn't set up shop in the ghettos or in the rural parts of middle America.  It's sad but true.  Most Americans shop the Twinkie aisle of Piggly-Wiggly.  It's killing us and bankrupting our country.

I'm not being dramatic.  By allowing big food to market chemical-ridden products, OUR OWN GOVERNMENT IS KILLING US at our kitchen tables.  Isn't dining a basic human right?  To eat?  To breath?  With a sky full of pollution and a cornfield full of pesticides, it's become near impossible in this country.

So let's look at what Robyn O'Brien just taught us.  Sometime in the early 1990's new, unsafe proteins and growth hormones were introduced to the American population via our food supply.  (Who needs terrorists when we have the goddamn FDA to kill us all off?)  This problem is the responsibility of every US President from the first Bush to Barack.  And we are only getting deeper.  Example - Why was Michael Taylor just appointed HEAD OF THE FDA?  THE SAME CREEP WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR ARTIFICIAL GROWTH HORMONES???

Why is so much of the political focus on the problems caused by food?  One thing Robyn didn't mention was that our national hospital bill is on target to bankrupt our country.  But if our beloved politicians could only use ethics in agriculture and food distribution, we'd lower that bill by creating healthier citizens.

Now we have an election coming up.  In past campaign years, reporters haven't asked big questions about food at round table discussions.  During national debates, moderators never asked the candidates about the nation's food supply.  WHY????  Don't they know????  Instead they rattle on about the damage caused by our food supply - "Excuse Mr. Candidate, what brand of bandage are you going to slap on the gaping bloody gusher called health care?"

I'm hopeful that this issue will finally reach the presidential campaign this year, bringing it (or introducing it) to every family in America.  But in order to make this happen we have to speak up.  It's time to elevate our conversational chatter to action.  Educate the masses and tell our politicians that we will not accept a government who thinks so little of the health of its constituents.  If you are passionate about this cause, it's time to stop talking and starting DOING.  Don't think for a minute you don't have any power, b/c you do.  You have SUPERPOWER.  And you can and should use it.  Otherwise, why the hell are you here? 

And, if the US government can't deal with this issue, we need to.  As a family unit we can start to make changes by focusing on organic products.  But it's going to take more than that.  Once you know better, you need to not only do better, but spread the word to others.

Let's make a campaign club.  We'll call it "Fed Up".  No meetings.  No dues.  No ritual hazing.  The only membership requirement is that you DO something. 

There are endless ways to do this...

• Hold a picket sign in front of Stop and Shop that says "KRAFT KILLS".
• Sign a petition demanding CEOs produce American food to the same standard as European food.
• Go to an inner city school principal and offer to educate children about the perils of poor food choices.
• Write a letter to your Senator demanding the highest standards for your state.
• Grow a veggie garden in your backyard and share the food with neighbors.
• Start a local farmer's market.
• Write a blog for your friends about how to shop for organic food.
• Pull your family's personal financial investments out of irresponsible food distributors like Monsanto.  They're the bad guys - wolves in sheeps' clothing!  Encourage your extended family and friends to do the same.

Big food spends billions in marketing and advertising campaigns for their shitty products.  We can flush all that money and effort down the toilet by not buying into it.   

I'll end by asking this:  Would you give your baby a cigarette?  No, it'd kill him, right.  Not immediately, but eventually the kid would develop lung cancer and die.  Haven't we all given our babies Lucky Charms and canned red sauce and Perdue chicken?  Yup.  And you know what?  Statistically that'll probably give them cancer, too.  But it doesn't have to be that way.  So stop.  Now.  Make better choices.  Change your mind.  Change your habits.  Change the world.

Peace,
v

p.s.  This article is full of hyperlinks.  Drag your mouse over any highlighted word and it will lead you to a website that gives you additional information.