Customer Reviews

Genetic Roulette: The Documented Health Risks of Genetically Engineered Foods

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1 star:		(6)

 

 

What's your response when someone comes out with a statement they've picked up from somewhere to the effect that "There's no evidence that GM food is harmful"?

If you have time and energy, perhaps you manage to scrabble together bits and pieces from memory, the web, or an article. But considering the number of calls that the business of living places on us, perhaps you just shrug your shoulders and muse that the world is going to hell in a handbasket of Bush, Blair, and Monsanto's making and there's nothing you can do about it.

Well, now there is. Just point them in the direction of the latest book from Jeffrey Smith, Genetic Roulette.

A must-read for policy-makers, educators, and journalists, it's also invaluable for anyone who wants to sharpen their weaponry in the battle against the imposition of GM foods. And judging by emails I've received from students asking about the risks of GM food, every educational institution and public library needs a copy.

Those who enjoyed Smith's previous book, Seeds of Deception, should be warned that this isn't the same sort of read. Seeds laid out the fraud of GM through its stories: the honest scientists who were gagged, threatened, and persecuted; the consumers who got sick and died from eating a supplement produced with GM bacteria, only to have their suffering covered up by a government protecting industry interests. Genetic Roulette is not a book of stories, but an easy-to-use reference book of scientific and other documented findings on the risks of GM foods.

Contrary to what the industry would have us believe, a considerable number of findings show GM causes harm, and they are clearly presented in this book. Given the worrying lack of substantial published research, Smith also draws upon unpublished studies, case studies, medical reports, media reports, and eyewitness accounts. Unlike the notorious pronouncements of biotech industry supporters, statements of opinion are never misrepresented as scientific fact. The author has gone to great lengths to maintain accuracy, having each section of the book checked by at least three scientists.

Conspicuous by their absence are follow-up studies to those that show harm from GM foods. The book details tactics that industry uses to bury inconvenient research, including ignoring it, attempting to discredit the research or its authors, and funding competing studies so poorly designed that no meaningful findings can be extracted. If all else fails, industry-aligned researchers discount deaths of experimental animals or claim that statistically significant results have, magically, no significance at all.

The layout of the book is an exemplar of clarity and should serve as the model for any reference book. It is designed to make the material accessible to three levels of reader: scanners, casual readers, and those who want detail. Each double-page spread is devoted to a problem with GM foods, with the left-hand page having the topic heading, a quote by an expert, and a few summarizing bullet points; the right-hand page gives technical detail. You don't need a science background to understand it. While the book is not bedtime reading, terms are defined and the boggle factor is kept low. The table of contents enables the reader to scan the problems with GM food and quickly to access the evidence on each.

Smith has to be the best science communicator alive today, and this book stands as the final word on GM health risks. It's the definitive answer to those who don't know, those who don't want to know, and those who know but don't want anyone else to know.

Genetic Roulette is well organized, well researched and well documented. It's layout makes it easy to pick out the main points of a topic or get all the details. It makes a handy reference and a good resource for plowing through all the specifics.

Jeffrey Smith is a stickler for accuracy. When I contacted him to use some excerpts from his books in my new editon of FOOD ADDITIVES: A Shopper's Guide..., it was very clear to me that he wanted to make sure that I was absolutely accurate with my facts. He demonstrated to me, his commitment to complete and total accuracy and publishing only factual information.

If you want to know the truth about genetically engineered food, I highly recommend this book.

GENETIC ROULETTE: THE DOCUMENTED HEALTH RISKS OF GENETICALLY ENGINEERED FOODS is a recommended pick for college-level health libraries: it covers everything from genetic transfer issues and risks for children and newborns to safety-related assumptions that have been proven wrong, signs of toxic reactions, and more. Packed with charts, FDA review information, details on regulatory issues and industry studies, and overall health concerns, GENETIC ROULETTE is a unique reference not to be missed.

This is an excellent companion to The Gmo Trilogy, for readers who wish to go into greater depth. The book explores possible medical risks associated with eating genetically modified foods, and comprises 1-2 page abstracts and essays by researchers. There are a lot more hypotheses than actual conclusions here, so none of these works have reached the stage of becoming peer-reviewed articles in scientific journals. Skeptics may attach whatever significance they wish to that fact, but the references to each article are published, verifiable, and legitimate. In fact, if the dangers of GMO foods is a topic of interest to you, this book is a worthwhile purchase for the references alone! The articles are all of a scientific nature, and do not address social, political, or economic issues.

One recurring theme which comes up in these pages is the idea of drug resistance transmitted from ingested foods to intestinal flora. A common trait of many genetically modified plants is selective pesticide resistance. The desired crop can then be sprayed with these pesticides. It was previously believed that stomach acid would break down the plasmids which confer pesticide resistance, but that has been shown to be incorrect. Intact plasmids have been recovered from intestinal washings. There is prescedent to hypothesize that these plasmids could be transferred to gut flora, and under the right conditions, could cause a multidrug-resistant intestinal infection.

I don't have the expertise to judge the danger this may represent (maybe nobody does), but I would be interested in comments from anybody scientifically trained in these fields

I knew absolutely nothing about Monsanto or GMOs until a good friend put some brochures in my hand on March 31. She had been to a seminar where Jeffrey M. Smith was speaking. Those brochures can be found at [...].

This book is important in that it gives people like me who are 100% in this fight something to say to people who haven't a clue. "Go read Genetic Roulette" please. Do it for your health and your children's health.

I for one, don't remember signing up for this lab experiment. Maybe I'm wrong, but don't people get paid for participating in Scientific Experiments? That our government should put us through this and not even bother to let us know what is going on our dinner table really makes me angry with them. I thought things had to be labeled in this country. The UK bans this stuff, China gets labels... and in the USA most people don't even know what a GMO is.

We have been GMO free, (as much as possible without proper labeling), and my daughter's stomach aches are gone. My son's growing pains are gone. My headaches are gone. We are all losing weight without even trying. I'm convinced.

I don't need Jeffrey M. Smith to tell me this is a huge issue. But I am so thankful to him for bringing it to my attention, first in the brochures and then with the books. Life is too sweet to spend it feeling ill.

Jeffery Smith has done an outstanding job of documenting case studies of the health risks involved GMO and Round-up Ready seeds. Most people are unaware of just how serious this problems is for everyone and everything that eats food. Just a little basic information about Round-up or glyphosate. Glyphosate is a herbicide (kills other plants) widely used in conventional farming. Agro-business has created methods of inserting genes into our food crops, like corn, soy beans and now alfalfa (the main food source for dairy cattle), which make the plant resistant to the herbicide glyphosate. Glyphosate kills plants by creating a nutrient deficiency in the weeds and creating a disease prone environment in the soil, thus the herbicide doesn't kill the weeds, disease kills the plants. Studies have proven that glyphosate cannot kill plants in sterile soils. This may sound great, however, the inserted gene creates the nutrient deficiency in the plant. When the plant is fed to cattle or pigs, made into sweeteners, used in salad dressings and many other ways it's introduced into the food chain, it is passed on to what or whoever eats the food. Creating deficiencies in both humans and animals as well as the other documented problems with GMO's.

Smith carefully documents how the insertion of the gene has it's own implications and cannot be controlled once inserted creating a cascading effect in the DNA of the plants, humans and animals. The book is a good read along with his other book "Seeds of Deception" which tells how this all got started.

The most shocking thing is that no studies were made to insure the safety of the gene inserting process in the United States. Europe has rejected GMO and after reading this book as well as "Seeds of Deception" you will want to start reading labels, changing your buying habits, and asking for labeling of GMO.

Jeffery Smith's website is [...] where he gives realistic ways to change the GMO contamination of our food.

Well written, concise and to the point. This books gives much food for thought. Even though you may not easily find the references and, as a result, readily dismiss this book, it does make you wonder why nobody seems to want to properly study GMOs. For what's at stake, this is potentially problematic. Until GMOs are properly evaluated, how can they be blindly accepted as the holy grail for saving the world?

Every single one of the 1-star raters on this title and author fail 100% to discuss the real issues here and instead rant against the quality of the author's science and documentation. There are real and potentially huge issues w/ GMO that warrant EXTREME CAUTION--especially in the context of what GMO really purports to solve. When you add up what GMO provides versus the harm already known to stem from GMO combined w/ yet to be discovered horrors the only sane approach is EXTREME CAUTION. Go explore how glyphosphate affects nutrient absorption and content in vegetable plant species. America: wise up like Europe has done a decade ago and DEMAND LABELING for GMO on all food products sold in the US. The author is empassioned about a very much under-the-radar hijacking of all sensibility in how GMO foods are entering the food supply uncontested by an FDA that doesn't demand testing in any meaningful way. I highly recommend the work of Jeffery Smith and am thankful he is taking this message forward at the grassroots level. And this doesn't even get into the nature of products employing "Roundup Ready" technology: this way you can shower the crops and soil w/ Roundup, and guess what, you get to eat it now.

Jeffery Smith enlightens us on some of the horrific effects of GMO plants and animal products fed GMO corn, soy, etc.

The dangers are monumental. I especially appreciated the page on ASPARTAME or the diet in diet soda. Be aware that because people are getting hip to the Dangers of Aspartame, it has been Re-Branded as "Amino Sweet."

By the way, HFC, High Fructose Corn Syrup, which is disease causing and toxic, has also rebranded due to the growing public awareness of the Dangers of HFC.

High Fructose Corn Syrup has also been Re-Branded.
HFC is now marketed as "Corn Sugar."

Thank you Jeffry Smith for the solid work on the dangers of GMOs.

The author mistakes or incorrectly reports the science. What he presents as risks are speculation supported only by errors of fact. "Genetic Roulette" should be subtitled, "Speculation and Conclusions Without Foundation about Genetically Engineered Foods."