Ever since “An Inconvenient Truth” hit theaters in 2006, global warming has been at the forefront of political, commercial and social agendas. Robert Kenner is hoping that his documentary about the food industry — titled “Food, Inc.” — will do the same thing for agribusiness.
“I’m not Michael Moore,” Kenner says. “I didn’t go in with a preconceived point of view that I was going in to prove.”
Once Kenner set about making the film, however, he quickly learned that he had undertaken an issue much larger than he’d imagined. His investigation led to the discussion of issues ranging from genetically modified foods, to governmental regulation, nutritional degradation and pollution. He found the most resistance from large food corporations, who were unwilling to comment on the topic.
“I’m not surprised that they didn’t want me in their factories but I am surprised that they didn’t want to talk to me,” Kenner says.
Kenner also points out in the film that many FDA and Department of Agriculture officials come from large food-producing corporations. Kenner hypothesizes that the result of that is an agenda that favors the corporations over public safety.
“They don’t disassociate with what they’ve done previously,” he says.
The film describes a widespread, systemic problem. But just because the problem is large, doesn’t mean it’s insurmountable.
“These guys are like Big Tobacco,” Kenner says. “They had tons of money, were connected to government, but we beat [Big Tobacco].”
Monsanto is considered a pioneer of genetically modified seed development. We asked their director of public affairs, Bradley Mitchell, to respond to claims made against Monsanto in “Food, Inc.”
In the film, we are told that Monsanto would not participate in the film. Is that true?
We never said no. I will say that early on in our discussions, we became suspicious of their objectivity. In our mind, having seen the film, our suspicions about objectivity were well-founded.
What kind of damage control are you doing, since the film depicts Monsanto as having put many farmers out of work by selling patented seeds?
The farmers who have seen this are really furious. Monsanto is not the only company in the world that patents seeds. Seeds have been patented since 1930.
The film points out that Clarence Thomas made a ruling that favored Monsanto and that he worked for the corporation years before.
It’s a very selective portrayal of information. What the film neglected to point out was that this was a six-to-two decision, so five other justices agreed with Thomas. Also, Thomas worked for us in the 1970s long before we were involved in biotechnology.
Biotechnologist Dr. Bruce Chassy is a member of the FDA food advisory committee. We asked him to weigh in on issues discussed in “Food, Inc.”
Have you seen the film?
In general, I find that movies like that are incredibly ignorant. It’s a conspiracy theory — you know, it’s all about screwing the consumer to make a buck, right? That [subject matter] sells, but it’s just not true.
The film discusses how many tomatoes don’t taste like tomatoes anymore. Is that because of genetically modified seeds?
He’s conjecturing things based upon anecdotal observation. There are no GM tomatoes on the market in the world. Big farms have to grow tomatoes that are big, red and all the same size because they have to go in a packing crate. The breeder wasn’t asked to make a tasty variety.
The film also posits that organic foods are better for the environment than GM foods.
Here’s the shocker: GM agriculture is more environmentally friendly. It reduces the use of pesticides. It conserves water. It reduces the greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture. There are a whole range of environmental benefits that they want to ignore.