Review
"Cuts through all the hype and misconceptions surrounding genetically engineered food and provides the indispensable primer."
(
Jeremy Rifkin, author of The Biotech Century )
"This is an impressively readable and informative treatment."
(
Talking Leaves, Spring/Summer 2000 )
" . . . thorough and alarming. People who are concerned about their health and the health of the planet should read this book."
(
Vermont Times )
"Authors Teitel and Wilson have performed an important and timely service in writing their book."
(
Dr. Joseph Ray, Atlantis Rising, Number 24 )
"A gripping account of the environmental, social, political, ethical, legal and economic decisions . . . about genetic engineering and our food supply."
(
Earth Island Journal, Volume 17, number 4 )
"An honest, eye-opening read for the consumer who is concerned with what really comes off the grocery store shelves."
(
New Texas, June 2002 )
"Read and learn what genetic engineering is, how it works, and the ways in which it affects your cuisine choices."
(
PJ Birosik, Nexus, July/August 2002 )
". . . a comprehensive and persuasive primer that is guaranteed to make readers take this new and daunting aspect of food production seriously."
(
Orion Afield, Winter 2001/02 )
"In simple, straightforward language, Martin Teitel and Kimberly A. Wilson guide readers through the questionalble process of toying with a food's gene pool, and offer a glimpse of the technology hidden behind the misleading label."
(
The Environmental Magazine, January/February 2000 )
"Teitel and Wilson provide a scientific and comprehensive guide about the potential dangers of these new foods. The book reinforces its research with extensive footnotes and indexes, along with a variety of advocacy and informational websites."
(
Today's Librarian, December 2000 )
"Few, if any, food issues are hotter right now in the public mind than the issue of genetically engineered food. This book is a simple, readable treatise detailing the main dangers of genetically modified food, ranging from its predictability, the assault on biodiversity, ethical problems of the patenting of seeds and life forms, the merging of the food and chemical industries and the global oppression of the family farmer. With a forward by Ralph Nader, this book is a must-have, no matter which side of the GE food debate one is on, since it provides such a thorough, and yet relatively brief coverage of the "anti" side in this fascinating, complex, and extremely important debate. Recommended."
(
Anne Newkirk Niven, SageWoman, Winter '00 - 01 )
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.
