Genetically Engineered Food: Changing the Nature of Nature: What You Need to Know to Protect Yourself, Your Family, and Our Planet - Softcover

Teitel, Martin; Wilson, Kimberly A.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0892818883 ISBN 13: 9780892818884

Publisher: Park Street Press, 1999

Synopsis

The book that exposes the threat to our food supply from genetic engineering.

* Explains the dangers of these foods in easily understood terms. * Provides a comprehensive guide to actions you can take to safeguard your food supply.

Picture a world where the french fries you eat are registered as a pesticide. Where corn plants kill monarch butterflies. Where soy plants thrive on doses of herbicide that would kill any normal plant. Where multinational corporations own the life forms that farmers grow and legally control the farmers' actions. That world exists. The above events are happening, and they are happening to us all. Genetically engineered foods-plants whose genetic structures are altered by scientists in ways that could never occur in nature--are already present in most of the products you buy in supermarkets, unlabeled, unwanted, and largely untested. The threat of these organisms to human and environmental health has caused them to be virtually banned in Europe, yet the U.S. government and a handful of biotech corporations, working hand-in-hand, have actively encouraged their use while discouraging labeling that might alert consumers to what they are eating.

Genetically Engineered Food: Changing the Nature of Nature is the first book to take a comprehensive look at the many ramifications of this dangerous science. Authors Martin Teitel and Kimberly Wilson explain what genetic engineering is and how it works, then explore the health risks involved with eating newly created lifeforms. They address the ecological catastrophe that could result from these modified plants crossing with wild species and escaping human control altogether, as well as the economic devastation that may befall small farmers who find themselves at the mercy of megacorporations for their livelihood. Taking the discussion a step further, they consider the ethical and spiritual implications of this radical change in our relationship to the natural world, showing what the future holds and giving you the information you need to act on your own or to join others in preserving the independence and integrity of our food supply.

About this title

From the Back Cover

CURRENT AFFAIRS

“For consumers who wish to understand why their food has been genetically altered--without their consent, with virtually no testing, and without labeling--Teitel and Wilson’s timely book is essential reading. It tells us who the winners and losers are in this global experiment with the world’s food supply.”
--Sheldon Krimsky, author of Agricultural Biotechnology and the Environment

“Martin Teitel and Kimberly Wilson have cut through all the hype and misconceptions surrounding genetically engineered food and provided an indispensable primer for every family in America concerned with making wise dietary choices in the biotech century. I urge every consumer to read this book before walking into a supermarket again. It will open up your eyes, change what you put in your mouth, and transform your thinking about food forever.”
--Jeremy Rifkin, author of The Biotech Century

“By far the most accessible and informative publication on genetic engineering in food production that I have read to date. It is written so that the non-scientist can fully understand the scope of this technology. An excellent book.”
--Katherine DiMatteo, Executive Director, Organic Trade Association

Picture a world where the french fries you eat are registered as a pesticide. Where corn plants kill monarch butterflies.Where soy plants thrive on doses of herbicide that would kill a normal plant.Where multinational corporations own the seeds that farmers grow and legally control the farmers’ actions.

That world exists. These events are happening now, and they are happening to us all. Genetically engineered foods--from plants whose genetic structures are altered by scientists in ways that could never occur in nature--are already present in most of the products you buy in supermarkets. They are unlabeled, unwanted, and largely untested.

In this updated and expanded edition of Genetically Engineered Food: Changing the Nature of Nature, authors Martin Teitel and Kimberly Wilson explain what genetic engineering is and how it works, then explore the health risks involved with eating these newly created foods. They address the ecological hazards that could result from modified plants crossing with wild species and escaping human control altogether, as well as the economic ruin that may befall small farmers who find themselves at the mercy of huge corporations for their livelihood. Addressing the “feed the poor” propaganda spread by the agribusiness industry, they describe how the genetic engineering “revolution” actually threatens to displace farmers in the Third World and intensify the problem of world hunger. Finally, the authors consider the ethical and spiritual implications of this radical change in our relationship to the natural world, and show what the future holds if we don’t act now to implement a moratorium on the production of genetically engineered food.

MARTIN TEITEL, PH.D., is President of the Council for Responsible Genetics, a national nonprofit organization of concerned scientists, doctors, and activists founded in 1983 to foster public debate about the social, ethical, health, economic, and environmental implications of genetic technology. KIMBERLY A. WILSON, former director of the council’s Program on Commercial Biotechnology and the Environment, works with the Greenpeace Genetic Engineering Campaign.

About the Author

Martin Teitel, Ph.D., is the author of Rain Forest in Your Kitchen and Executive Director of the Council for Responsible Genetics, a national nonprofit organization of concerned scientists, doctors, and activists founded in 1983 to foster public debate about the social, ethical, and environmental implications of genetic technology.

Kimberly Wilson directs the council's Program on Commercial Biotechnology and the Environment.

About this edition

• Publisher: Park Street Press
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0892818883
• ISBN 13: 9780892818884
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 144