#4. Big Brother's Broken Policy...

I have never thought much about where our food comes from or the health affects that it has on our bodies, which is very visually apparent when considering the current health state of my body.  Now, however, after beginning this food-related writing project, I have been pushed to re-address my threshold for "disgusting." 

• The CDC estimated in 2011 that 48 million people contracted a food-borne illness, 128,000 were hospitalized, and 3,000 died.
• The U.S. Surgeon General, in 2001, attributed 300,000 deaths each year to obesity (though that number is likely MUCH higher now, considering the quickly-rising percentage of obese people).

The factory farming industry certainly deserves their share of blame for this affect on the public.  They are, after all, the ones who are actively participating in the abhorrent practices that we all have come to see in Food, Inc. and subsequent research.  However, the food industry doesn't shoulder all of the blame.  The legislators making laws in the U.S. that either encourage, or conveniently ignore, these practices does deserve criticism as well.
   

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So, how does the government have a hand in this?  Well, we first have understand that the food industry is exactly that: an industry.  It is comprised of corporations, and those corporations have a responsibility to serve their shareholders.

Robert Hinkley, in a 2002 article regarding the effect of corporate law on social responsibility, quoted a law in Maine that states:

"...the directors and officers of a corporation shall exercise their powers and discharge their duties with a view to the interests of the corporation and of the shareholders...."

and then went on to say that the legal effect of this wording is the same in every jurisdiction, even when the wording is different.

So not only is greed LEGAL, it's actually legally REQUIRED.  No wonder big food corporations act as they do!  Hinkley then suggested a simple clause be added:

"... but not at the expense of the environment, human rights, the public safety, the communities in which the corporation operates or the dignity of its employees."

A Business Week poll found that 95% of Americans were in favor of an addition like that above... so, where is it I ask?  I'll let you derive your own conclusions.

Also, as we read in the excerpt(s) from Michael Pollan's book, In Defense of Food, the government has been conveniently shying away from criticism of the food industry since the 1970's.  For some weird reason, I thought that people got in to politics to "make a difference," yet they are afraid of the big, bad, meat lobbyists?  Silly me...

Which of these 2 items are you more afraid? You would never know it based on the current legislation, but you are 10 times more likely to die from a food illness and 1,000 TIMES more likely to die from obesity as a result of the cheeseburger, yet in only 3 months laws were passed to outlaw the rifle, meanwhile significantly more people have been dying as a result of the item to the left.

In short, yes, the factory farming needs to stop.  Yes, the corporations are evil.  But the issue is more complex than just the villains we can see.  We need to vote with our dollars; buy only from responsible sources so that it becomes legally and economically necessary for these companies to change their business practices.  Then, when the time comes, we need to vote in the traditional way to enact laws that will discourage and penalize companies that do not act in congruence with the health of the population.

In the meantime, I'm keeping my guns, and they can keep their cheeseburgers.

"Nothing will benefit human health and increase the chances for survival of life on earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet." —Albert Einstein