Food Fray: Inside the Controversy Over Genetically Modified Food - Hardcover

Weasel, Lisa H.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0814401643 ISBN 13: 9780814401644

Publisher: Amacom Books, 2008

Synopsis

Heralded as both the quick, painless solution to solving world hunger and the scourge of modern science-a dangerous tampering with nature and the decimation of traditional crops and communities-genetically modified foods have triggered volatile debates and deeply contradictory dialogues the world over. Food Fray cuts through the complex science, boiling passions, and ethical dilemmas to provide an impressive history of every significant development in the GM food story, as well as an even-handed assessment of both its potential benefits and negative consequences. Meticulously researched, yet lively and entertaining, the author travels the globe to gather the perspectives of scientists, activists, consumers, government officials, and others, as she uncovers possible answers to difficult questions: · Do GM crops encourage a dangerous dependence on bioengineered seeds, chemical fertilizers, and toxic pesticides? Or can they solve the food scarcity problems that plague mankind? · Will the world's major staple crops be controlled by a handful of countries and corporations? Or could the increased income that GM yields bring to small farmers provide the key to the prosperity of poor nations? · Will this promising science, played out against a landscape of growing consumer fear, shoddy corporate practices, and loose government regulation, ultimately be squashed? Or will biotechnology continue to develop in ways that ensure the health and prosperity of many-not just the profits of a few?

About this title

Book Description:

More than ten years ago, the first genetically modified foods took their place on the shelves of American supermarkets. But while American consumers remained blissfully unconcerned with the new products that suddenly filled their kitchens, Europeans were much more wary of these “Frankenfoods.” When famine struck Africa in 2002, several nations refused shipments of genetically modified foods, fueling a controversy that put the issue on the world's political agenda for good.

In Food Fray, esteemed molecular biologist Dr. Lisa H. Weasel brings readers into the center of this debate, capturing the real-life experiences of the scientists, farmers, policymakers and grassroots activists on the front lines. Here she combines solid scientific knowledge and a gripping narrative to tell the real story behind the headlines and the hype. Seminal and cutting-edge, Food Fray enlightens and informs and will allow readers to make up their own minds about one of the most important issues facing us today.

From the Inside Flap:

It started with little fanfare over a decade ago, when genetically modified foods quietly appeared on American grocery shelves. But in the years since, GM foods have sparked a global controversy and sounded alarms here at home, triggered by a multitude of unanswered questions and dubious practices, such as highly publicized cases of “biopharm” crops contaminating the food supply...runaway commodity prices and worldwide food shortages triggered, in part, by the biofuel movement...Europe’s open hostility to GM foods and Africa’s outright refusal to accept food aid containing genetically modified crops.

Combining solid scientific knowledge with a gripping narrative, esteemed molecular biol­ogist Dr. Lisa H. Weasel helps readers make sense of this complex, contentious issue. Positioning itself directly at the intersection of food, politics, and technology, Food Fray captures the real-life experiences and wide-ranging perspectives of the scientists, farmers, policy­makers, and grassroots activists on the front lines of this fierce debate, teasing out the hype from the reality and uncovering the very real pros and cons of genetically modified foods.

Insightful and even-handed, Food Fray:

· Exposes the ruthless business practices of biotech giants such as Monsanto, which demands that new GM seeds be purchased each year and aggressively pursues violators.

· Examines the romantic, pre-scientific mentality that inflames anti-GMF passions in Europe and stirs a deep-rooted fear of “Frankenfoods.”

· Looks at the troubling question of whether a corporation can own proprietary rights to something as essential to survival as seeds.

· Uncovers hypocritical elements of the

Bush Administration’s push for GMF as a humanitarian measure for starving Third World nations.

· Reveals the benefits of high-yield Green Revolution varieties of rice in providing crucial calories to the chronically hungry—while inadvertently reducing dietary variety and causing malnutrition.

· Explains the complicated science behind GM foods, and the sound reasons that pro-GMF sentiments prevail in the scientific community.

· Explores the future potential of GM crops to provide global food security—and the need to put the public good above the profit motives that drive the biotech industry.

Genetically modified foods are ubiquitous in the American diet—80 percent of all corn and 92 percent of soybeans grown in the U.S. are now GM varieties. But it’s a science with the potential to bring both good and harm, and an issue with no easy answers. Food Fray looks at every aspect of the debate from multiple per­spectives, giving you the information you need to make up your own mind.

 

Lisa H. Weasel, Ph.D., is a molecular biologist and the recipient of a grant from the National Science Foundation to study the issue of genetically modified foods. She is currently a tenured professor of biology at PortlandStateUniversity in Oregon and a member of Governor Ted Kulongoski’s task force on developing public policy for bio-pharmaceutical crops in Oregon. She lives in Portland.

 

About this edition

• Publisher: Amacom Books
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0814401643
• ISBN 13: 9780814401644
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 240