Who Can You Trust?

I found myself at the store, staring at the gallon of milk and contemplating adverse discussions whirling around on the interwebs regarding addititives in milk. Most of these additives from our friend Monsanto. On one side is the "this additive is deliterious to human health juxtaposed with the "our studies show you're wrong" crowd.

While continuing with my shopping I mentally reminisced about when eggs and tomatos went through their own period of castigation, which eventually blew over. It doesn't mean that the eggs are healthy, after all the chickens are also subjected to growth hormones... but, it had its 15 minutes and it's time to move on. 

The question that popped into my mind whilst thinking about my food was, "Who can you trust?" Which faction or group is telling you the truth. Who is spinning what?

When one side says "A" and the other side says "B" how do you know who is telling you the truth? One group says genetically modified food and food with growth hormone in it is poisoning your body. The other group, typically the manufacturer or industry, says, Hold on, wait a minute, our research shows no adverse effects, and obtw, the FDA approved our products. and.., both sides produce research supporting their particular position.

My inclination is to follow the advice of film noir detectives who admonish us to "follow the money!" It's a bit sad and jaded and yet I tend to think that if there is a profit to be made on the product, by the organization, then you can't trust the rhetoric of their spokesperson. I can't even trust the FDA to provide me with honest accurate assessments. A quick google search "FDA failures" indicates the depth of that problem. (However, not everyone making profit is dishonest, and I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge this. But it begs the same question.)

And it's not just food. Everything that has two or more sides to it... political stuff, religious stuff, academic stuff. I looked this up "who can you trust" online. Looks like there are millions out there asking a similar question to mine. (About 1,060,000,000 results)

obtw, I bought the milk.