JOURNAL 1
I’m done with 11th grade and it is summer in upstate New York. There’s a first time for everything. This will be my first journal entry and I have to be completely honest, I am not a “ journaling” kind of person. I would call myself more of an analyzer. I would like to blame the rigour that was put upon me in English this year for not being able to journal. I am still recovering from my AP english and composition exam, AP english class and SAT english work. I feel restricted, like I can no longer write freely anymore. I mean seriously, English is left in the background all these years and then all the sudden English class proves to be most vital in 11th grade. Don’t get me wrong my English teacher is sort of a legend in Guilderland High School, in fact you have probably heard of the name, Mitch Hahn. He really helped me improve my writing and I am grateful for what I have learned this year. It is pretty amazing, my writing went from a Honda to a Ferrari and Hahn’s class truly does deserve credit for my immense improvements.
Anyways, let's get into the meat of this journal, GMOs. I chose to spend my year’s research on GMOs because this topic, as nerdy as it may sound, fascinates me. I read about health and the American food market all the time, why not research about it? There are so many different controversies surrounding the not so new idea of injecting bacteria into crops — I thought why not take part in revealing the truths surrounding it . This topic has many layers to it; this year I would like to discuss labeling and whether or not GMOs actually benefit farmers. With that being said, these won’t be the only aspects of GMOs that will be discussed on this website.
JOURNAL 2
I recently had an interview with Mr.Bott. This interview helped me clearly understand what the E=mc2 program is all about. From this experience, I have learned what to prepare for an interview, how to plan for an interview and what to say during an interview. In this interview, we mainly talked about a plan for my website and we bounced back ideas over a meal of pancakes and quiche. We did not only discuss GMOs and ideas for my website, we also talked about how standardized testing came to be. See this was very interesting, even though standardized testing doesn’t relate to my topic directly, there is an indirect connection. Standardized testing came about due to the baby boom after WW2, there was a demand and there was competition surrounding that demand. Similarly, Genetically Modified plants were developed by Monsanto scientists because there was a demand for efficient pest resistant plants and slowly competition formed surrounding this new invention.
From this overall discussion, I now know who I want to interview in order to develop an informative website on GMOs. My goal is to interview an employee of Monsanto’s agrochemical company, a farmer who uses genetically modified seeds and Dr. David Suzuki, an environmental activist. I do have a strong opinion on this topic, with that being said I don’t want my website to be a mere reflection of solely my beliefs; I want my website to be an open platform filled with various perspectives and beliefs. With these interviews held throughout the year, I hope to bring about various point of views surrounding my topic.
JOURNAL 3
I came across this quote today from Dr.David Suzuki and it really resonated with me. Dr. David Suzuki is fighting for GMO labeling in Canada, Canada is in the same boat when it comes to GMOs as the United States of America. I researched into his background and learned a lot about why he holds his beliefs against GMOs. David gained an interest in environmental studies early in his career when he attended the University of Chicago, he decided to study zoology. He gained popularity through his long-running CBC television science program “The Nature of Things,” which is seen in over 40 countries. In 1990 he co-founded the David Suzuki Foundation, this foundation was developed to “find ways for society to live in balance with the natural world that does sustain us.” This organization is well-known for helping the oil spill that occurred in the Gulf of Mexico. The David Suzuki Foundation does not merely revolve around the topic of GMOs, in addition to that they combat sustainable fishing, climate change, and clean energy sufficiency.
David Suzuki’s believes there must be more done than just pushing for food labeling, but his first goal is to get Genetically Modified foods labeled.
This is from the David Suzuki foundation website:
“The safety of GMOs is not 100% proven and a growing body of research connects these foods with health concerns and environmental damage. For this reason, most developed nations have policies requiring mandatory labeling of GMO foods at the very least, and some have issued bans on GMO food production and imports.”
I agree with this quote to some degree because genetically modified foods are not 100% safe and although their initial intent proves highly beneficial, the question after years and years still remains, are GMOs verified and properly tested? If they are why are there a continuing array of both health and environmental concerns. Dr. David Suzuki calls his fellow Canadian citizens “guinea pigs,” I find this interesting. Many pro-GMO activists argue that there have been no severe sightings of GMO allergic reactions, this is complete gibberish. Let's take Grace Booth’s scenario for example since GMOs are not labeled it took months of vigorous research for Booth to finally learn that she was allergic to the modified Taco shell at Taco Bell. Not all citizens have these resources to configure where there mysterious allergic reactions are coming from, therefore labeling proves vital when it comes to GMOs.
JOURNAL 4
I was looking through my drive and found an old entry I made on genetically modified foods in 9th grade. Now I'm in 12th grade and looking back I am not in love with what I wrote but there are some compelling arguments I made. At first, I definitely was not going to share this piece because my arguments lacked strength and convincing power. But now I have decided to share this piece to see how much my views have changed since then.
9th Grade piece:
How low can Genetically Modified Foods Go?
Genetically modified foods should be banned in America. According to New York Times article "Are GMO's doomed" states that many countries have banned GMO's. Countries such as China, Switzerland, Russia, Australia, India and many more have gotten rid of GMO's. Since the herbicide is injected into the crop, consumers can not get rid of the chemicals used by just washing the fruit or vegetable off. This concerns consumers because they are basically eating herbicides, even if they want to avoid these genetically modified crops or foods; they can not because these foods are not labeled. Wouldn’t this concern you? Children should be getting a nutritious organic diet, not a chemically enhanced diet! Consumers have a right to know what they eat!
Monsanto set the precedent in regard to the insertion of GMOs in crops. Worldwide protests against Monsanto and GMOs occurred on May 15, 2013. According to organizers 436 cities and 52 countries took part in the occasion.
Genetically modified foods are causing allergens that have never appeared before in human history! People can not trace where their allergies are coming from because genetically modified foods are not labeled. More and more people are eating this poison and can’t avoid it because not all Americans can afford all natural organic grocery stores such as Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s!
While other countries are against GMO's, America is still permitting them to a dangerous extent. For example, 87% of soybeans are genetically modified. America's food industry is run by GMOs, and people can’t even prevent it!
The increased usage of genetically modified crops has spurred the rise of “superweeds”, which occur when the genes of the GMO crops transfer into ordinary weeds. These superweeds beat herbicides causing a detrimental surplus of weeds. These are hurting crops of innocent farmers who thought they were purchasing these GMO seeds which would help them save money. Subsequently, Genetically Modified foods negatively impact both the consumer and the farmer.
Even though Monsanto claims his genetically engineered seeds help farmers from expensive herbicides, these seeds actually hurt farmers. Monsanto and his billion dollar company claim his genetically modified seeds help farmers financially and in the long run. In reality, Monsanto sues any farmer that reuses the seeds formed from the genetically modified crop purchased by the farmer earlier from his company. Making poor and innocent farmers repurchase extremely expensive seeds every year is very cruel and many statistics mentioned earlier in the editorial show that the genetically modified crop has more cons than pros.
Indian farmers who spent as little as seven rupees are now spending 17,000 rupees, after switching to Bt cotton seeds formed by Monsanto's company. The Indian state Andhra Pradesh blames Monsanto and his seeds for crop failure. The seeds instead of beneficially helping farmers have greatly hurt then. Monsanto's Bt cotton seeds have led to great amounts of crop failure. Due to the high-interest rate and crop failures due to Bt cotton seeds led to widespread social unrest and suicides.
Ultimately Genetically Modified crops should be banned in America, as well as other countries because there are more nonbeneficial impacts than beneficial, and these cons have negatively affected the general public in the areas of public health and agriculture. Many countries have banned these crops for these reasons. It is the time the US does too.
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I liked that my piece had an array of facts backing up each argument. From 9th grade, my beliefs surrounding GMOs have definitely changed to some extent. I do think GMOs are vital to the American food market, organic food can be expensive. My 9th-grade views are very anti-GMO, whereas now I am okay with the continuation of GMOs in the American food market but I hope to see labeling pass in the near future.
JOURNAL 5
I have recently come to the realization that the topic I have chosen to study has been an ongoing debate, to say the least. When the topic of food markets emerges GMOs have always been the center of discussion but was this always the case? Thanks to people like Rachel Carson, citizens have learned that not everything the government regulates is always safe. In Carson's book, Silent Spring, she glazes over Starlink a BT cotton as a promising alternative to DDT and other synthetic compounds. We have known about the properties of Starlink for approximately 100 years now. Yet, we have only recently discovered that Starlink can prove detrimental to human health.
Not only has there been a plethora of allergy reports with Starlink, additionally, Starlink has caused many cross-contamination cases. In Inland Nebraska contract farmers who grew non-GMO white corn had their crops contaminated by Starlink. Similarly, Pioneer HiBred had a customer who had to abandon 25,000 bushels of corn due to Endogen contamination. Farmers who have white corn crops that are GMO contaminated face high levels of market rejection.
Starlink was banned once there were several allergy reports and cross contamination problems. Why is action taken after harm is done? How did Starlink pass FDA regulations when there are many detrimental effects surrounding it? As a consumer, I am concerned, even though my family does not purchase GMOs we go to restaurants and food chains that are dependent upon them.
JOURNAL 6
In the end, we will regret the chances we didn’t take. I remember in 11th grade I eagerly wanted to be varsity tennis captain, but I never ran in fear I would not become captain. Throughout my 11th grade year, I truly regretted this decision and made it my mission to become the captain in 12th grade. Luckily this year I decided to run and now I am varsity tennis captain. I am glad I ran and got the captaincy, but from this experience, I learned something more valuable than the captaincy itself. While running for captain I learned to be open to possible failure and possible success, I had to prep myself to be okay with winning or losing. Similar to me wanting the captaincy, I really want this website to be a huge success. When I heard about the E=mc2 program I loved the concept of studying something that fascinates you without having to follow a rubric. I was very hesitant about joining E=mc2 because I was not sure if I had the time to develop the quality website I wanted to make. I decided to join because I did not what to look back and regret not joining the program itself. Now that I am working on this website, I am really glad that I took the initiative to join this program. I learned so much in two months and I can’t wait to see what lies ahead. Developing the website itself was quite dreadful but definitely worth it. I made three website layouts and tried WordPress but did not like editing on WordPress so I finally decided to use Wix.
This journal is completely irrelevant to my usual GMO nerd talk, but I have decided to go ahead and publish this irrelevant journal because it informs you about my journey with this project, and the journey is just as important as the destination.
JOURNAL 7
Procrastination. The word itself is so distasteful, as much as I hate the word I am one of the many citizens who keep it running like a well-oiled machine. I finished my Precalc classes and now I am studying for the SATs like there is no tomorrow. Today I felt like journaling can be put off, but then I was like no it can’t be put off and it is currently 11 pm. Not an ideal time to journal if you ask me, but it’ll do. This morning I had coco puffs, they are very GMO and very good as a matter of fact, and no there was no allergic reaction. I myself am highly curious about the history of GMOs. This website has discussed a lot of current events surrounding GMOs, but it has not discussed much surrounding the past regarding GMOs.
Let's talk about Flavr Savr tomatoes, are they as promising as they sound? These were the first genetically modified tomatoes released into American food markets in the 1990s. The name sounds compelling and persuasive, I kind of want this Flavr Savr tomato in my salad right now. Side note, I am lowkey eating a salad right now so I don’t fall asleep. Anyways the name itself was obviously well thought through. These tomatoes are “special” because they can last on the shelves longer than an organic conventional tomato. These special tomatoes were made by Calgene in California, where production ceased more quickly than anticipated. Apparently, these tomatoes were on the market for only three years, now that I think about it I definitely wouldn’t want Flavr Savr tomatoes in my salad bowl.
JOURNAL 8
Summer is coming to an end and for the first time, I feel no sorrow. Man, this summer was rough studying for the SATs, taking summer college courses and of course the annual summer homework. I shouldn't be complaining, after all, I signed up for this. It's just hard you know, going from having exciting adventurous summers to a highly academic summer. I hope it will pay off in the end with college. Let's see.
Let's get into GMOs. Today I want to briefly talk about GURT. Not GoGurt but the restrictive technology called GURT also known as the terminator technology. GURT was developed by scientists in order to terminate the second generation of farmers seeds. While sterilizing the seeds can help prevent cross-pollination, it will hurt farmers. Forcing farmers to use GURT stops them from reusing old seeds and forces them to purchase new seeds. This forces farmers to buy from the Monsanto agricultural company annually. This does not benefit farmers, it is simply a ploy devised by Monsanto’s scientists to have a continuing income. The Monsanto agricultural company has made millions forcing farmers into using GURT technology, many third world countries are suffering from Monsanto’s monopolization of seeds and these countries are trapped in a cycle in which they are annually trapped into purchasing Monsanto’s seeds. India is an example of this, 95% of India’s cotton seeds are now controlled by Monsanto.
Monsanto’s website:
“Monsanto is an agricultural company. We apply innovation and technology to help farmers around the world produce more while conserving more.”
These are the promises Monsanto India’s website makes, alongside pictures of smiling, prosperous farmers from the state of Maharashtra. This is a desperate attempt by Monsanto and it's PR machinery to delink the epidemic of farmers’ suicides in India from the company’s growing control over cotton seed supply. India is not the only country deprived of economic prosperity due to Monsanto’s monopolization. The government placed a last-minute ban on GM eggplant just before it was scheduled to begin being planted in 2010 according to natural revolution. However, farmers were widely encouraged to plant Monsanto’s GM cotton and it has led to devastating results. The UK’s Daily Mail reports that an estimated 125,000 farmers have committed suicide because of crop failure and massive debt since planting GM seeds.
I have recently seen a documentary on this topic called “1000 feet under,” which truly had me moved. It depicted the pressure and burdens farmers carry attempting to raise families while relieving debt in India. From this documentary, I learned how valuable every grain of food can be.
JOURNAL 9
This website advocates for GMO labeling, it is not completely against the use of Genetically Modified crops. It would nearly be impossible to eliminate all genetically modified foods in America because 95% of the US market relies on GMOs. I think it's time to really evaluate the pros that come with genetically modified foods.
GMOs allow scientists to develop more nutritious foods, for some more nutrients can make the difference between life and death. Genetically modified tomatoes and golden rice are two popular crops that carry more nutrients than their organic counterparts.The genetically modified tomato was engineered to produce higher levels of nutrients called anthocyanins. Genetically Modified rice, golden rice, has added vitamin-A to help prevent human prone illnesses like childhood blindness and vitamin-A deficiency. These benefits are especially needed in third world countries; in the United States GMOs should continue but labeling is a necessity.
Normal crops are dying with changing global conditions, but GMOs can be made to alter and surpass these changing global conditions. Climate change and population growth are putting heights of strain upon the agricultural industry to feed the hungry world. In the United States, States like California are experiencing groundbreaking levels of drought. Biotechnology will allow scientists to develop an array of resilient crops that are more suitable to changing global conditions. The GMOs under development today, will help us fight the challenges of tomorrow.
JOURNAL 10
We call ourselves the land of the free and the home of the brave. Our country symbolizes freedom and justice for all, yet do the standards we present to the world truly depict the true justice within our nation? If you ask me in a blink I would say no, I am privileged to be a citizen of this nation and I do not take this for granted but I definitely don’t think our country lives up to the image we portray to the world. The black lives matter movement is a movement which came about due to anti-black sentiment present across the nation in the 21st century. The fact that people are rallying against a movement rooted to the deaths of many young black lives is appalling. I die a little when I hear people say white lives matter or Italian lives matter. Statements like these draw attention away from the real problem at hand, they are not only wrong, they are appalling. It is like going to a cancer rally and screaming diabetes matter, yes we know diabetes matters but this rally is particularly for cancer, so please don’t disrupt this movement and draw attention away from it.
We portray this image of a yummy melting pot, with happy people of all races. However, this is not at all true. Similarly, when it comes to GMOs congress is on one page while American citizens are on another. For this reason in a 2014 campaign top chefs took a stand against GMOs. They advocated for labeling, why can’t the American citizens have the right to know what they are consuming, what is wrong with knowing what is in their food?
Chef Colicchio is a world star hef and the head judge of popular tv show Top Chef, his petition reads: "As chefs, we know that choosing the right ingredients is an absolutely critical part of cooking. But when it comes to whether our ingredients contain genetically modified organisms, we're in the dark. It's time for Congress to move us forward, not backward when it comes to our right to know what's in our food." I cannot agree any less with Colicchio, we have the right to know what we consume and we should stand for the image we portray to the world, equality, and justice for all.
GOAL POST
Bland To Creative
9/22/17
My last self-designed assignment was not as interesting and cool as I desired it to be, especially since I never got a response from the interviewer. It lacked creativity and that is something that I definitely hope to have in this self-designed assignment. With an array of unanswered interview questions, it was bland. We learn from our mistakes, with this coming self-designed assignment I hope to bring something unique to my website.I will be using a canvas, pencil, and paint. My goal is to develop a painting showing two worlds side by side, one showing a commercialized GMO based market, while the other emphasizes naturality and presents organic foods. By placing these divergent systems side by side, I hope to show that these two very different systems can live in harmony amongst the hectic world around us. I think it is time we accept the truth and try to work with with the systems already put in place and run by society. With these two worlds, divided civilians from all over the world will hold hands across the canvas of the two worlds, showing that we will work together as a team to help one another fight hunger. Some countries rely on GMOs, while others are strictly organic; each country has a food system tailored to their needs. We cannot change a well-functioning system that has been put to work for years, but we can renovate it. We need to think beyond the concept of banning GMOs, how can we satisfy the health freaks who can afford Whole Foods daily and how do we satisfy the below income families all at once? Labeling. At the bottom of my poster, there will be a label across the canvas facing the civilians feet. Overall, I hope this self-designed assignment shows creativity and innovation while conveying the theme of unity and labeling, two topics I strongly believe our country should be striving for.
9/29/17
Explanation of my self-designed assignment :
This artwork was developed for my self-designed assignment in hope to address food sovereignty. Who really has power over our food? What power do big biotech companies have over farmers? As I have deeply researched into my topic I have learned that in the United States Genetically Modified foods have gained a level of food sovereignty that seems to be highly unjust.
Corporations such as Monsanto have developed both horizontally and vertically integrated platforms, these platforms have been merely used for profit. Biotech companies are the big fish in the American food economy, while farmers and other small food production companies are fighting to build their name in the competitive US market. This self-designed assignment is not a portrait against Genetically Modified foods, it is simply a representation of who holds the real power in the American food market. It is okay for GMOs to have their place in the American food market. But, it is not okay for biotech companies to gain full control of the American food market. It is safe to say that these few biotech companies that run America are no different than the old famous monopolies developed by John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie and JP Morgan. Why is this pivotal and concerning? This is concerning because when companies gain immense control over a specified market they tend to charge overbearing prices, higher than the market value, hurting civilians and the economy as a whole.
In addition to overbearing prices, these biotech companies have a bark greater than their bite. In other words, they are promising stability in a climate-changed world and more nutrient dense foods for the world’s poor, yet they never seem to deliver. These companies are developing a canvas that depicts social justice and in reality they don’t care about the people they care about the profit.
These companies are focusing on corporate problems, rather than focusing on root causes of pressing problems. Lets take the Artic apple for example, this apple was engineered to not turn brown when apples are sliced. Does this solution help feed the world poor? No. Are biotech companies performing social justice? No. What are these companies doing with these pointless inventions: they are making bank. Money is there motif and mere concern. When a company has such great power, it’s unfortunate that this power is not distributed, so that there can be a balance. A balance that will allow the American food market to be more than just a profit-making machine.
SEPTEMBER JOURNAL
9/29/17
I recently read a Wall Street Journal article, Standing up for GMO foods by Labeling Them. This article was pro-labeling, but the reasons for pro-labeling were interesting. Although I do agree that Genetically Modified foods require labeling, I disagree with Sexton’s reasoning behind the need for labeling. I found Sexton’s article, Standing up for GMO foods by Labeling Them, somewhat weak because it disregarded the counter argument, it was very one-sided and there could have been a greater usage of facts backing up his arguments.
Sexton’s article stressed that labeling is needed in America because people have “irrational” fears surrounding GMOs. There is a clear need for labeling, but Sexton’s reasoning is highly illogical. Consumers have a reason to be in fear, and it is not irrational to be afraid of Genetically Modified Foods. There have been a plethora of news reports revealing the health issues caused by GMOs; there is a clear reason for fear and preferring organic over Genetically Modified foods is not a bad thing. In order to support his argument, Sexton uses a weak statistic, that in my opinion, further weakens his argument to a greater degree. “90% of Americans want GMOs labeled if that question is posed to them, according to Rutgers University.” This claim weakens his claim, 90% is a huge number that goes to show that not all 90% of these Americans are “irrational.”
This article completely ignored the opposing argument, there was no counter-argument and for an opinionated piece like this, you would anticipate a counter-argument. The lack of refutation goes to show that there is truth in the opposing points perspective and there is nothing that can fight that truth. He never addresses the American “fear,” so as a reader a question was left unanswered for me. What fear is Sexton referring to? What is the irrational fear? I know that GMOs were initially intended to merely improve civilian lifestyles, but over time the motives of biotech companies have changed immensely. They have too much control and civilians want to see economic balance and an even platform for all methods of food production.
All in all, this article reflected a very fictional image to readers, leaving out the truth.
SEPTEMBER JOURNAL
9/29/17
April 12, 2025
September is coming to an end and senior year has been interesting, to say the least. The self-designed drawing really helped me think about narrowing my topic. Afterall, GMOs cover a huge ground of topics and I cannot effectively cover all those topics. Drawing really gave me time to think about my question, what is my goal? What do I want to achieve through this website? I realized that biotech companies monopolizing the industry, portraying a social justice god seemed very unjust. These companies promise one thing and deliver another. It is not the responsibility of these companies to solve world hunger, but when they are the big fish in the American food market killing other production methods and small farmers, they are the only companies that have wealth and overbearing power to bring change. While their website portrays a socially caring company, the truth is that these companies are merely profit-driven. These companies care more about the profit than the people, for the past five years, Monsanto’s company has only fixed corporate problems, while disregarding the real problems at stake. These biotech companies are monopolies that are going to gain profits so high, they will gain complete control of all food prices.
Through my website, I hope to study the food sovereignty within the American food market.
JOURNALS
April 12, 2025
GMOs
OCTOBER GOAL POST
10/20/17
This post will serve to outline my plans for my next SDA and it will also discuss my main goals for the end of the year. With each SDA I hope to add new knowledge to my repertoire of information. With all these SDAs and journals I add strength to my project’s main purpose, how do we regulate GMOs?
GMOs are a prominent part of American lives and that is something we cannot change. Problems unfold when there is a lack of vital regulation needed when it comes to GMOs. Throughout the year I hope my website not only provides insight as to what needs to be resolved, but I also hope my website provides a series of solutions surrounding these problems. With this month’s SDA, I hope to unwind why the FDA is against labeling Genetically Modified Foods. I will present this information in a Prezi to display the information with creativity and organization.
As for my ultimate goal for this website and project, I hope to develop a series of answers as for what regulations are needed in order to maintain a balance in the food market so biotech companies don’t gain too much control over food prices. I also hope to address another question that the previous question leads into, why is labeling vital to consumers?