To Spray or Not to Spray, That is the Question

We have grown by 2 billion people since I was a child. I have four children…two were born by another mother, but I helped raise them, they are a part of me spiritually.

With more people we need more food. With more people we need to stop worrying about our mortality and start enjoying the life we have been given.

Diseases are horrible.

I was not at my best friend, Tracy’s, side while she had to give her 4 ½ year old son, Trey, chemo every day for 2 ½ years (only a mother of a cancer child can eat and clean up puke at the same time) we were in different provinces, at 8 he is in remission…knock on wood he stays that way for the rest of his life, but there are no guarantees.

She knows this, his father knows this, the family knows this and his siblings know this. They prepared themselves very early for the negative outlook because it was always possible they would lose this beautiful little boy. That possibility exists everyday for every person. 

We do not know if we will live to see our grandchildren or if we will only live to see our mother and fathers faces.

We have to enjoy the time we are given.

I was there when my mother went through her cancer treatments. Her treatments were very different then my nephews, as I consider Trey. Her cancer treatments were not as insidious as Treys were. She was sick through them, but the side effects were nowhere near as drastic as what my little nephew went through.

The type of cancer my mother had is very RARE. I want that stated before telling you who they usually find this type of cancer in. So rare that it is found in maybe 1 in 1 million people, realistically that would mean about 7000 people on Earth MAY contract this type of cancer…those people are usually farmers or people who work with farming products. 

For the very few years my parents were together my father worked at a grain mill in Medicine Hat before passing away in 1979 in a car accident, he also grew up and worked as a farmer/rancher. While it is rarer than my nephew’s type of cancer, it was also easier and more tolerable to treat than what this little boy had to go through.

I also want to point out our farm was not far from a Canadian/British military base that tested chemical warfare for many years. We do not know what kinds of chemicals were discharged that more then likely seeped into the ground and into the water supply (Our well water was unfit for human or animal consumption) and we will never know, so blaming farming chemicals for my mother’s cancer is mute as we have no clue what kind of chemicals were used on the military base for years.

(also, those people who may have to deal with the type of cancer my mother had to would be from the developed world, where we need to cultivate food by massive amounts, not third world countries where pesticides/herbicides are too expensive for peasants and they do not grow food with machinery that is bigger than their homes.)

We have 7 billion people on this Earth. Some are going to get sick; we know this from history, we know this from genetics. Realistically we cannot segregate ourselves in society all together, those who keep complaining about this chemical causing problems with the reproductive system or that chemical causing cancer may have the money, the know-how and the land to do so, but the rest of society does not.

We can stop growing food faster by not using food that is Genetically Engineered, but then how do we feed the massive amount of people at minimum amount of money?  

Do most people know what Genetically Modified means when it comes to the food you eat? Some actually believe that human DNA is placed into our food supply…not true.

It helps our food grow faster; it helps our food become disease resistant; those tomatoes wouldn't last as long on the shelf or in your fridge if they were not genetically modified. GMO has been happening for centuries. By the way, those seeds you planted in your garden are more than likely genetically manipulated at some point in time.

http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/good-vs-bad-geneticallymodified-foods-3108.html

(The sites I use have both pros and cons to the GMO debate; I will always try use sites that do this on any topic. People deserve to “own” the choice they support. It is easy to find things on any topic, finding all the information, good and bad, however is something you have to take the time to research and many don’t take the time)

https://ca.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100217104751AAOZFGM

Can I ask, with the amount of people on this Earth, what is the problem with Genetically Engineered food?

http://classes.soe.ucsc.edu/cmpe080e/Spring05/projects/gmo/benefits.htm

Some people are going to be susceptible to these things, just like some people are susceptible to peanuts or have severe allergies to animals. I have cousins who could not be around cats or they ended up in an emergency room with a life threatening asthma attack. Let’s say you are allergic to nuts and something is modified with a nut, like soybeans, you may have a reaction.

I have been fed; I have lived 42 years, 22 years of those with beautiful children who I love dearly. 

I am 14 years older then my father was when he died. I enjoy every day that I am healthy and I fight my battle with my disease when I am sick so I can enjoy better days with my children and grandchildren, but I am alive now to enjoy those days. If I become sick because of the food that has kept me alive, so be it.

One thing people who keep fighting against GMOs and pesticides/herbicides keep forgetting…we all are going to die one day. If one of my kids or grand kids becomes a statistic, I will drop what I am doing and be there for them night and day.

Am I going to scream from the roof tops that Monsanto needs to pay for my heartache? No.

Am I going to yell that the government has to do something about GMOs having to be labeled on food? No.

We are human beings, which means mortality. We are only given so long on this planet we call Earth. If it isn't one thing that brings on our death, it will be another…it does not mean we will live longer or be able to reproduce or not have the same battles to survive from but from different reasons. 

Now does that mean I give free reign to companies to poison us? No. This has to do with feeding the MASSIVE population on the Earth. Not companies dumping toxic waste into our oceans.

We all have battles to overcome.

The child that these people claim will never have children because they ate food that had “Round-Up” sprayed on it, may end up in a car accident and have that very same problem. We never know, some believe it is called destiny, that there are reasons for everything we go through.

We should be grateful that we are able to afford the food that is in our bellies and nourishes our bodies. We eat what we can afford, unless you can make organic farmers lower the cost of their food, that is reality.

I was told as a child, and many of us were, there are people in this world who would love to have the food that was on my plate. 

Genetically modified, sprayed with chemicals it kept me from starving to death. It keeps me nourished and alive now. I would never want to know the feeling of starvation or cancer for that matter, but starvation can be helped with genetically modified food.

We grow, we adapt.

Not all people are going to live to a ripe old age and die in their sleep. We are given every day to live we are not promised a future. Eating food is a luxury in some countries, genetically modified and sprayed with chemicals or not.

Stop complaining about the chemicals. 

We need to be grateful for what we have. Civilizations have been lost because they could not sustain the massive populations. They did not have the technology we have today.

If you don’t want to eat food that has chemicals on them or is Genetically Engineered and can afford the organic foods that are sold or if you have the time and space to grow your own garden that is great, remember though, those seeds you are growing could have been altered at some point. 

With 7 billion people and 2 billion more expected by 2050 there really isn't much else we can do that is affordable for the masses because those people on the streets, those people that have their ribs showing through their skin…they won’t care a damn bit if a chemical is sprayed on the food that is handed to them or if the food is modified to make enough so they can eat.

Mankind plunks itself down into one spot, lets itself grow until it explodes at its seam and then starts crying when smart people say, “This is what we need to do to survive…some will get sick, some will survive, some will die.”

There are too many starving people who really do not give one damn bit what chemical is on their food, if it means their children don't starve to death before their first birthday and they get to spend even 10 years with their children to watch them play, something we take for granted...they may die of cancer, later, but they got to spend some time with their children.

People want to protect others from disease by not using chemicals or genetically modifying foods thus adding to the population of the Earth which is already bursting with people that are not being fed by the food being produced as it is, does this make any sense?

My view is, unless you can feed the Worlds growing population I suggest you Put up or Shut up.