Consumers are especially incensed that industry and the FDA refuse to require labeling of genetically engineered food. Concern over the environment. Studies indicate that the industrialization and globalization of agriculture are a leading contributor to greenhouse gases and climate destabilization. Other research shows an increasing percentage of municipal water supplies are contaminated by pesticide residues, chemical fertilizers, and sewage runoff from factory farms and feedlots. Factory farms and genetic engineering are nothing less than institutionalized forms of cruelty for farm animals.
Industrial agriculture poses a mortal threat to wildlife and the entire web of biodiversity.
Only a sustainable, decentralized, humane, and organic form of agriculture is defensible in moral and ethical terms. The patenting of living organisms is inherently immoral. It's no wonder consumers are turning to organic foods while biotechnology and agri-chemical special interests are starting to panic. So keep in mind this election season that those of us who care about food, family farms, animals, and sustainability have to start getting more political. We've got to organize ourselves into a powerful nationwide consumers network, which is what my organization, the Organic Consumers Association, is trying to do, so that we can make our voices heard, and turn this country in the right direction.