Genetically Engineered Foods: A Self-Defense Guide for Consumers - Softcover

Cummins, Ronnie; Lilliston, Ben

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1569246351 ISBN 13: 9781569246351

Publisher: Da Capo Lifelong Books, 2000

Synopsis

Stormy debates about genetically engineered (GE) food have raged throughout Asia and Europe, particularly in the UK, where the 1995 outbreak of "mad cow" disease ignited a groundswell of activism and outrage about food safety. Now, as the GE food debate gains momentum in the United States and elsewhere around the world, two leading consumer advocates give us Genetically Engineered Food, a comprehensive, up-to-the-minute guide to the risks posed by GE foods-and what you can do to avoid them. Ronnie Cummins and Ben Lilliston discuss the ethical, environmental, and health arguments against GE food, how these foods are being regulated in the U.S. and abroad, and why consumers are right to oppose them.

In addition, Genetically Engineered Food offers in-depth information about:

* How to identify the types of food most likely to be GE
* Where the major food companies, supermarkets, and restaurant chains stand on the issue, and which food companies and stores are going GE-free
* Food products, ingredients and companies to avoid
* Foods and brands you should buy and where you can find them
* How you can shop and act with a purpose.

About this title

About the Author

Ronnie Cummins is the national director of the Organic Consumers Association (www.purefood.org) and the editor of BioDemocracy News, a monthly online newsletter devoted to genetic engineering, factory farming, and organics. Ben Lilliston is a writer on health and the environment and is the communications coordinator for the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy in Minneapolis.

Reviews

The 1995 outbreak of "mad cow" disease in Europe provoked public attention to genetically engineered or modified food, a concern that has spread to the U.S. Cummins and Lilliston, food safety advocates, examine the scientific, political, economic, and health issues. With billions of dollars in profits at stake, the biotech food industry promises that new technology will end world hunger and improve public health and the environment. Cummins and Lilliston weigh those promises against the unpredictability of the new technology, and the fact that much of it hasn't been adequately tested for safety and that its products are being distributed without labeling. Genetically modified organisms are so common that they are part of the average consumer's daily intake in food from breakfast cereals to infant formula to margarine. The authors include information on what consumers can do, from smart shopping to grassroots lobbying, to reduce the threat of genetically engineered food. This is a thorough and well-researched look at an issue of growing public concern. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Da Capo Lifelong Books
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1569246351
• ISBN 13: 9781569246351
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224