Andy Singer's Argumentative Analysis

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Nature has enslaved people since the beginning of time. As humans have developed they have overcome oceans, plagues, nomadism, and other organisms. Most recently scientists have created means to overcome the biological constraints of agriculture, and the plant that has contributed the most is corn. Pollan stated. “corn has done more than any other species to help the food industry realize the dream of freeing food from nature’s limitations.(91)” thesis Modern corn now is genetically changed to have the qualities wanted in corn commodity. These seeds are “genetically identical(37),” and can be planted closer together, allow for a higher yield per acre. However, the hybrid seeds are the “biological equivalent of a patent.(31)” This unethically gives corporations, like Monsanto and Pioneer, an economic advantage over the farming industry. Farmers now depend upon corporations versus “depending upon their plants to reproduce themselves.(31)” In addition to hybrid seeds, farmers must now pay for fertilizers, pesticides, machines, and any existing debts. In order to stay in the farming business, farmers need to produce as much corn as the land can allow. Due to the …show more content…
His cartoon raises the point that low cost reflects the low quality of chemically altered food. The same principle can be applied to the growing meat industry, specifically speaking, CAFOs.These “factory farms (76)” force animals to eat a diet of “corn, protein, and fat supplements, and an arsenal of new drugs.(71)” Without antibiotics, animals living inside CAFOs would not be able to survive the living conditions and diet. Even though it is the cheaper food offered year-round, it is being unethically brought about. Similarly with chemically altered food, when we eat meat raised through antibiotics and hormones, “we inhabit the same microbial ecosystem as the animals we

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