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Food Better Than It Was Back In The 1900s

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Is food safer today than it was back in the 1900s when The Jungle was written? The food industry today has improved and is cleaner. Although the way foods is made today is still unsafe as it was in the 1900s. Now that there is an increase in the use of chemicals, genetically modified foods, and the way food is processed. Today the food industry uses lots of chemicals to produce the foods that we eat. Back then these industries didn’t have as much of the chemicals that we have nowadays. In the past all the fruits and vegetables were all organic, because farms didn’t use pesticides and chemical fertilizers. Therefore, the food fresher than it is now. Farms now use chemical pesticides to repel against insects and animals that damage the crops. …show more content…

By adding more pesticides to the crops, we are increasing the pollution in the air. Not only do the chemical pesticides affect the environment, it also has an effect on the soil and crops. When farmers put the pesticides on the crops the fruits and vegetables start to lose it’s nutritional value. Also, pesticides have an affect on people’s health. People are at risk of having, “cancer, nervous system diseases and reproductive problems” (“Why Organic: Harmful Effects of Chemical Pesticides”) when they are exposed to the pesticides. Pesticides are just one of the chemicals that is being put into foods today. Another chemical that is very popular is artificial flavoring. The majority of the foods that we eat have artificial flavoring added to them. Even in the 1900s foods had artificial flavoring, “many flavor companies began as importers of European essential oils and other flavoring substances” (“FEMA” History). This was how the United States got the essential oils and flavoring substances in order to create an artificial …show more content…

Besides the use of pesticides, and artificial flavoring there is genetically modified foods (GMOs). Foods that are genetically modified is manipulated by engineers, and is considered to be unsafe. Foods that have been genetically modified is usually canned foods, frozen foods, baby formula, cereal, cooking oils, meat, milk, soft drinks, etc. Pretty much most of the foods on the market are genetically modified. Just like the flavoring companies being secretive, products that are GMOs aren’t labeled on the product. Even in the 1900s, scientists have been manipulating plants, and also before the 1900s during prehistoric times people manipulated foods as well. This has been going on for centuries, but today with the technology that we have, foods is more genetically modified than before. In the article History of Genetic Engineering it states that: “Some naturalists and farmers begin to recognize "hybrids," plants produced through natural breeding between related varieties of plants.” They used natural ways to breed between a variety of plants. Now engineers can modify foods to last longer, increase in size, etc. That’s how some foods have a longer shelf life

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There is always opposition to pesticides because of the harm that it can cause on the environment and the animals alike. Pesticides though have saved a lot of hard work for farmers over the past couple of decades because it does all the dirty work, for example, the killing of weeds and other pests. Pesticides have also saved a lot of money for farmers by preventing pests from damaging crops or taking the nutrients and water supply away from crops. (Whitford, 7) In the future we need to start to find less toxic ways to prevent pests from attacking the crops and vegetation. This would prevent a lot of the other costs associated with pesticides for example, health costs for farmers that are exposed to the toxic chemicals or the killing of the habitats in the surrounding areas.

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In the movie Food Inc., company representatives were asked to make known the products that Genetically Modified Organisms are present in, and the food companies were not willing to give up that information. Because people are not allowed to know the full extent of what is in their food the consumer does not have full control of what they are eating. Food during the 1900’s did not have things such as Genetically Modified Organisms added into their food so they did not need to be worried about extra things added to their food. The meat packing industry during the 1900’s was better at making known what was in the food they were producing because they did not have the different things added in like industries do

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In another study done by Oregon state College, “chemical pesticides have become the most important consciously-applied form of pest management”. When pesticides were first introduced into the equation, many of them were either too toxic or not effective. There were some positives to the pesticides. For example, it killed most insects and had no toxicity to mammals. It did not get washed away by water easy and it didn't break down.

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Arturo Rodriguez the current president of the United Farm Workers, explains that around two million farm workers grow and harvest food each day, and around ten to twenty thousand are impacted from an illness from pesticides. He exposes the issue of pesticides and its effect on the farmworkers. Exposure to these chemicals can cause detrimental health effects such as asthma, allergies, cancer and hormone disruption (Lozowicka, 1480). While Rodriquez did not give examples of the health effects he argued the main point that farmers need protection from pesticides. Ceja mentioned the issue of pesticides, however she never explicitly said she does not use pesticides in her vineyard.

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New technologies started popping up in the early 1900’s, although most of them where still powered by horses. Many farmers used wagons pulled by horses to hold more crops than ever before, and drastically improved the harvesting season. Some farmers even had horse drawn plowes. Crops were preserved using a variety of methods, including storing them in hot water to increase shelf life. Around the mid 1900’s, scientists and farmers started using and developing fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides in order to increase crop yield and production.

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The meat we get today is a heavily regulated before it reaches the meals we eat today. In the late 1800s and early 90s, it was the complete opposite with very poor hygiene and diseases spreading around. Americans were not that concerned when it came to the fact of food regulation, but there was one group that was. The Europeans is who wanted the tougher meat inspection laws in which resulted into laws being changed to better regulate meat products and livestock. The Americans had to satisfy their needs because Europe was the major export for the meat industry.

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Then one spring there were no birds, no visitors, no fisherman in the streams, and families were getting sick. (Carson, 1962, p.3) As the book moves forward chemical pesticides are discussed and the impact that they have on the environment.

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What do a tomato, soybean and a french fry have in common? They are all some of the most commonly genetically modified foods sold on the market today. By using the genetic information from one organism, and inserting or modifying it into another organism, scientists can make food crops stay fresher, grow bigger, and have the crops create their own pesticides. Nevertheless, the technology to modify genes has surpassed its practicality. Genetically modified foods need to be removed from everyday agriculture because of the threat they pose to human health, the environment, and the impact on global economy.

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The story “Silent Spring” started as a beautiful village, but the village turned into a lifeless hell in the end. The reason for this massive change was because of a white powder that farmers use every day, which are called pesticides. Of course, there are merits involved by using pesticides, but science has proven that there are many more defects. So, if people continue to use pesticides, the world will become like the fictitious village in “Silent Spring”. Pesticides impact the environment strongly.

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The reoccurrence of facing danger because of the pesticide and other chemicals that are sprayed on these fruits and vegetables.

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Farmers use pesticides to keep the bugs from destroying their crops they worked so diligently on. Some farmers get hate for using pesticides, as there are people who believe that pesticides are unhealthy for us humans to consume, and that pesticides can cause sickness and deformities if consumed too much. But is this true? EPA.gov states, “EPA is confident that the

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About 12,000 years ago, humans transitioned into a period of farming and agriculture. Humans were barely learning the basics in food preservation, as their ancestors had previously relied on hunting and gathering to obtain food. In Sean Hammond's article, he talks about how in the past, the lack of food preservation to transport food for long distances caused serious health issues to people. Some of the issues mentioned in the article include, "…bacteria and fungi rapidly colonize, increase in population, and produce toxic and distasteful chemicals" (Hammond). Soon enough, technological advances brought forth industrial food supplies that transported food all over the place.

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Farmers need to stop using pesticides because it is a very dangerous substance. According the EPA, about 900 different species are being harmed due to pesticide use on American farms. The water being affected in many different ways. The pesticides pollute the water, this can make the animals/plants that live in the water

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Not only can they be damaging to their health, but pesticides can also change animal behavior, detering their survival skills (“Impacts of Pesticides”). Plants that contain pesticides are also responsible for animal exposure. Even carnivores have been affected; when primary sources such as insects consume the tainted plants, they are in turn exposing the secondary consumers that consider them as prey (Mahmood). This continues until the chemicals make their way up the food chain and the entire ecosystem is

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