Mendel in the Kitchen: A Scientist's View of Genetically Modified Foods - Hardcover

Nina Fedoroff; Nancy Marie Brown

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0309092051 ISBN 13: 9780309092050

Publisher: Joseph Henry Press, 2004

Synopsis

While European restaurants race to footnote menus, reassuring concerned gourmands that no genetically modified ingredients were used in the preparation of their food, starving populations around the world eagerly await the next harvest of scientifically improved crops. Mendel in the Kitchen provides a clear and balanced picture of this tangled, tricky (and very timely) topic.

Any farmer you talk to could tell you that we've been playing with the genetic makeup of our food for millennia, carefully coaxing nature to do our bidding. The practice officially dates back to Gregor Mendel—who was not a renowned scientist, but a 19th century Augustinian monk. Mendel spent many hours toiling in his garden, testing and cultivating more than 28,000 pea plants, selectively determining very specific characteristics of the peas that were produced, ultimately giving birth to the idea of heredity—and the now very common practice of artificially modifying our food.

But as science takes the helm, steering common field practices into the laboratory, the world is now keenly aware of how adept we have become at tinkering with nature—which in turn has produced a variety of questions. Are genetically modified foods really safe? Will the foods ultimately make us sick, perhaps in ways we can't even imagine? Isn't it genuinely dangerous to change the nature of nature itself?

Nina Fedoroff, a leading geneticist and recognized expert in biotechnology, answers these questions, and more. Addressing the fear and mistrust that is rapidly spreading, Federoff and her co-author, science writer Nancy Brown, weave a narrative rich in history, technology, and science to dispel myths and misunderstandings.

In the end, Fedoroff arues, plant biotechnology can help us to become better stewards of the earth while permitting us to feed ourselves and generations of children to come. Indeed, this new approach to agriculture holds the promise of being the most environmentally conservative way to increase our food supply.

About this title

About the Author

Nina Fedoroff is a leading geneticist and molecular biologist who has contributed to the development of the techniques used to study and modify plants today. She received her Ph.D. from the Rockefeller University. As a post-doctoral fellow at the Carnegie Institution of Washington, she was one of the first to sequence an animal gene. Switching to plants, she set out to study the "jumping genes" discovered in corn plants by geneticist Barbara McClintock in the 1940s. She isolated the DNA of these mobile genes, now called transposons, then went on to study their structure, movement, and how they are controlled. In 1995 she joined the faculty of the Pennsylvania State University, where she studies genes that protect plants from biological and non-biological stresses. Fedoroff is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and is currently serving on the National Science Board.

Nancy Marie Brown has worked as a science writer since 1981. Until recently she was editor of Research/Penn State magazine. Her first book, A Good Horse Has No Color: Searching Iceland for the Perfect Horse, was published in 2001. She is currently editing the memoirs of an herbalist, working on a book about modern archaeology in Iceland, and writing about science and nature for children. She lives in a restored farmhouse on 100 acres in Vermont.

From the Inside Flap

"Mendel in the Kitchen is a highly readable and well documented account of the science, issues and people involved in the development of genetically engineered foods. This is a must-read for anyone interested in learning how the DNA in our food has been altered over the years." -- Alan McHughen, author of Pandora s Picnic Basket

"...well prepared and well written, a pleasure to read. It will inform a wide range of readers about issues posed by genetically modified (GM) foods, hopefully contributing to elevation of the argument by inclusion of more scientific information." -- Eric M. Hallerman, professor, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Reviews

Is genetically engineered Golden Rice (enriched with vitamin A) a dangerous "Frankenfood" or a safe, nutritionally enhanced food that could fill a major vitamin deficiency in the Third World? Fedoroff, a molecular biologist and member of the prestigious National Academy of Sciences, and science writer Brown (A Good Horse Has No Color) argue forcefully for the latter view, saying we should embrace most of the advances genetic engineering has made in the agricultural arena. In an extremely accessible style, they take readers through the basics of genetics and genetic engineering to demonstrate why they believe that the risks associated with this technology are trivial. They also contend that the use of modern molecular technology to insert genes from one species into another isn't very different from the hybrid crosses that agriculturalists have been doing for millennia. Taking on concerns voiced by environmentalists, the authors articulate how genetically modified crops could reduce the amount of pesticides and fertilizers used and increase the yield of crop plants to keep up with a growing world population that could reach eight or nine billion in this century. Though likely to be controversial, the authors' clear and rational presentation could well change the opinions of some readers. Illus. not seen by PW.
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Edition details

• Publisher: Joseph Henry Press
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0309092051
• ISBN 13: 9780309092050
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 384