Corn's Dark Side: America's $150 Billion Crop Under Scrutiny
The US corn industry has been facing mounting scrutiny over its environmental and health impacts. In his book 'Omnivore's Dilemma', Michael Pollan highlighted the devastating effects of corn production on water, soil, taxpayers, rural economies, and public health.
Twenty years later, the situation has worsened. The consequences of growing America's super surplus of corn have become a top political issue in Iowa, the country's largest corn producer.
A petition filed by David A. Kessler, former director of the FDA, calls for the agency to revoke the 'generally recognized as safe' status of industrial processed refined carbohydrates linked to chronic metabolic diseases like obesity and diabetes.
Corn is a prolific water polluter, producing massive contamination of surface and groundwater in corn-growing states. The toxic byproducts of insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, fertilizer, and manure used in corn production have led to high cancer incidence rates in the Midwest Corn Belt.