Arguments Against Rastafaris

Rastafarianism started between the 1930’s to the 1950’s that was founded in Jamaica by Marcus Garvey. The Rastafarian beliefs called “Jah” are based on the beliefs of Judaism and Christianity. They strongly believe in taking care of one’s body. Rastafaris don’t cut their hair, insisting not to change the body with anything unnatural. They also have a strict diet to keep their bodies healthy called Ital. This diet is similar to vegetarianism or veganism, and they don’t consume red meat, because they believe meat “rots inside of your body”(Myers). Therefore, Rastafaris dislike the idea of genetically modified foods. They fear for the disastrous effects that could emerge from the GM foods. Rastafaris worry about the unpredictability of genetically modified food, the health risks, and the

Many have concerns about future birth defects due to genetically modified foods. Information from many of the experiments give reasons to fear harmful side-effects, such as the test of Roundup Ready’s soy product when given to mice before conception. Over “56% died within three weeks compared to 9% from non-GM soy controls”(Smith). Additionally, the researchers tested two mice who were both fed genetically modified food trying to conceive and were unable to. The main ideas for the Ital diet is to “eat natural foods that are good for you”(Myers). Rastafarians consider the body as temple that one should take care of. But hearing GM food experiments go wrong tend to severely worry Rastafaris. One case that harmed thousands of people was when a “GM food supplement killed about 100 people and caused 5,000-10,000 to fall sick”(Smith). The company genetically engineered this supplement to be produced faster and cheaper, which created 6 ingredients that could have started the epidemic. For this reason, many Rastafarians refuse to eat manufactured