Frankencorn: The Monster Roaming Our Crops

It was created in a mysterious laboratory using frayed scraps of genes from old plants, insects, and bacteria. The mad scientists who conjured up the genetic slurry had high hopes their freakish creature would arise from the petri dish and cure world hunger.  Oh yeah, and also generate massive profit.  The corporate giant that manufactures the stuff, MonSTERsanto, specializes in concocting evil schemes to dominate the Earth's seed supply. MonSTERsanto maintains that genetically modified foods are safe for human consumption, but many many many others warn of the chronic health problems it causes to living things - including humans.  On top of that, these chimera-like food crops are feared to mutate and evolve and could soon take over the world. Be advised there's even a Frankfish coming soon!  It might be prudent to do a little more research on genetically modified foods and make your own decision. Meanwhile, reflect on the insect and bacteria genes mingling around inside your body after you've eaten those corn chips.  Mmmmmm!  Medium: digital painting by Bob Lizarraga, written by 14.

Comments

[alexis]

Wow, some ppl really buy the party line. I'd rather be a fool. Maybe your next card can be the monsters at monsanto driving Indian rice farmers to suicide. Won't give any more info on that. Let the "up with science" non-foolish consumers look it up.

[Bionic Squirrel]

Dear Jennifer,

I don't believe that anyone has ever claimed that organic food is more nutritious per se... it's more a matter of pesticides, growth hormones, and such being dangerous for our bodies and the environment. There is plenty of scientific evidence out there that proves this fact well beyond a doubt.

If you choose to ingest chemicals, that's your own decision which you're clearly free to make. Someone else making the personal decision to avoid ingesting them does not make them "foolish".

[Leanspa]

Good post. Excellent point about the discrepancy between what is replicated in the laboratory versus what actually happens in the field with farmers. This is a mess. Even if you believe Genetically Modified crops are necessary to increase food production, it is an undeniable risk to natural biodiversity to be sowing an open pollinated crop like maize.

[Red]

The Cornman cometh! I respectfully decline the rank of kernel in the gmo army. I like the Boris Kornoff cobmeister. This post is fun!!

[Julia Gulia]

14, not only are you a gifted artist but are also well-informed and extremely intelligent. Based on the extensive reading I have been doing for the past few years, GMO foods are the most dangerous threat to our planet, not global warming. But our mainstream media which is owned now by only a handful of corporate media monopolies hypes up the global warming hysteria and omits info about GMOs. They have put GMOs in almost all (non-organic) processed food and didn't even tell the public - they paid so much money in lobbying that they don't even have to label it on the packaging.

[Lance Von T]

When Monstersanto "makes" the Frankencorn, do they stand slouched over the new batch, rubbing their hands together mad scientist style proclaiming "its alive!", or do they just package it up and send it out to the grocery chains? You know, after reading this post, it just serves to reconfirm my my notion of eating safely by buying my fruits and veggies from locally grown sources. Another great post, 14!

[Vern]

*buuuuuurrrrrpppppp*

don't know why, Homer and I feel good about ourselves right now.

[Ain't got no corn in my lower or upper intestine]

Dear Leaving,

Are you so sensitive about this "corn" thing because you have a cob of it lodged in your lower intestine?

Would it look worse then "Frankencorn" if you pulled it out?

You'll probably never know.

So much love!

[14]

Don't let the door hit you on the way out! If you were so offended by "celebrity garbage" then why in the world would you subscribe to this blog anyway? Seems like a better use of your time would have been poring over those stacks of obscure economic journals and scientific research abstracts collecting dust next to your recliner.

An accomplished Homo Universalis like yourself has no business sullying her precious mind with the sort of dreck posted here. Now run along and go read "Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and None" and feel good about yourself dear.

xOxO
14

[Leaving]

Thanks 14. It's been fun, but I realize I care about celebrity garbage almost as much as I care about an artists ill-informed opinion of a scientific topic. That is to say: not at all.

Go compare what corn looked before human intervention to what we eat today. All corn is already genetically modified "frankencorn," it's just a faster technique. The picture is also pretty unimaginative, which fits the unimaginative "frankencorn" moniker and the lame propaganda sites you linked to, I guess, but still. Unsubscribed.

[Vern]

*swatting hornets*

I can be incredibly naive, but I thought there was more to the business of organic produce than just the type of fertilizer used.
I thought the lack of pesticides (which is where I have to suspend my disbelief, as the wind seems to negate the reality of a true non-pesticide possibility, and, I grew up in NJ, the garden state, where toxins, some hidden, *cough* Jimmy Hoffa, Oil & Gas Distribution *cough* some not, are all just Standard Operating Procedures)
was another important part of the equation, with NON GENETICALY MODIFIED seeds completing the holy trinity of organicdom.

Genetically modified foods are the real problem, not so much the organic question because our bodies, and the bodies of the animals used as food, don't recognize the altered produce as food, so we don't get nutrition, just filler. Much like trans fat, which not only isn't used as food, but clogs up our bodies causing all sorts of havoc. There are no simple answers, because crops fail, look at Russia, and people need to eat, but we should at least be getting food and not filler. Eating locally is our best choice, because things don't have to be 'modified' for shipping.

[Jennifer]

Organic food is overpriced crap that is even worse for the environment (http://www.infernodevelopment.com/organic-foods-unhealthy-and-bad-environment) yet bought by pretentious fools who think they're doing the world a favor. Thanks for nothing.

The world would starve on organic farming alone. Several years ago, Nobel laureate agronomist Norman Borlaug, who has no vested corporate interest, was asked by Reason magazine, "What do you think of organic farming? A lot of people claim it's better for human health and the environment."

Mr. Borlaug answered, "That's ridiculous. This shouldn't even be a debate. Even if you could use all organic material that you have -- the animal manures, the human waste, the plant residues -- and get them back on the soil, you couldn't feed more than four billion people. In addition, if all agriculture were organic, you would have to increase cropland area dramatically, spreading out into marginal areas and cutting down millions of acres of forests . . ."

"If people want to believe that the organic food has better nutritional value, it's up to them to make that foolish decision. But there's absolutely no research that shows that organic foods provide better nutrition. As far as plants are concerned, they can't tell whether that nitrate ion comes from artificial chemicals or decomposed organic matter. If some consumers believe that it's better from the point of view of their health to have organic food, God bless them. Let them buy it. Let them pay a bit more. It's a free society. But don't tell the world that we can feed the present population without chemical fertilizer. That's when the
misinformation becomes destructive."

[Tracy27]

Oh, 14, as if I needed more reasons to dig you, you go and fill the silos of my organic farmer's heart with love for this piece. MonSTERsanto is evil, like the fruits of the devil.

[Vern]

Not to worry! BP is going to take up Corn Production!