Food, Inc.: Mendel to Monsanto--The Promises and Perils of the Biotech Harvest

A “lively and colorful” (The Washington Post) contribution to the complex and important conversation on genetically modified foods unraveling the science, myths, and politics behind the continuing battle over biotech food.

For most people, the global war over genetically modified foods is a distant and confusing one. The battles are conducted in the mystifying language of genetics.

A handful of corporate “life science” giants, such as Monsanto, are pitted against a worldwide network of anticorporate ecowarriors like Greenpeace. And yet the possible benefits of biotech agriculture to our food supply are too vital to be left to either partisan.

The companies claim to be leading a new agricultural revolution that will save the world with crops modified to survive frost, drought, pests, and plague. The greens warn that “playing God” with plant genes is dangerous. It could create new allergies, upset ecosystems, destroy biodiversity, and produce uncontrollable mutations. Worst of all, the anti-biotech forces say, a single food conglomerate could end up telling us what to eat.

In Food, Inc., acclaimed journalist Peter Pringle reveals how both sides in this overheated conflict have made false promises, engaged in propaganda science, and indulged in fearmongering. In this urgent dispatch, he suggests that a fertile partnership between consumers, corporations, scientists, and farmers could still allow the biotech harvest to reach its full potential in helping to overcome the problem of world hunger, providing nutritious food and keeping the environment healthy.

Peter Pringle is a veteran British foreign correspondent. He is the author and coauthor of several nonfiction books, including the bestselling Those Are Real Bullets, Aren't They? And Food, Inc. He lives in New York City.