I live in California, where we are to vote on Prop 37 to support our right to know if Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) are in the food we eat by requiring food manufacturers to identify GMO's on the Nutrition Fact label. So, I went into the book with some idea of GMO's and that they were bad and big money was behind it.
The pleasant surprise was the way the author puts the subject matter in context and uses scientific references in a way that does not require a PhD to understand. I also liked the examples from nature as well, here are some of my favorites from the book:
Wisdom of the Geese: A farmer in Illinois who's been planting soybeans on his 50 acre field for years and putting up with soybean eating geese who took up residence on a nearby pond. The geese returned every year. Only this one year, the geeseate only from a specific part of his field. As a result of the geese feeding, the soybeans were only ankle high. The geese it seemed were boycotting the other part of the same field where the beans were able to grow waist-high. The reason is that this year, the farmer had tried the new, genetically engineered soybeans. And you could see exactly where they were planted, there was a line right down the middle of his field with the natural beans on one side and the GM beans were untouched.
Similar comments about cows: "If a field contained GM and non-GM maize, cattle would always eat the non-GM first" - GL, Nebraska :A neighbor had been growing Pioneer Bt corn. When the cattle were turned out onto the stalks they just wouldn't eat them" - GS, Montana
There are also many stories of brave scientists who dared to speak out and how they were crucified, how Big Agra has bought and paid for our politicians. There are a very few in Washington D.C. who are not on Monsanto's past, present or potentially future payroll or placed in critical positions at the FDA, EPA, Supreme Court Justice, Secretary of Commerce, Secretary of Agriculture, Secretary of Defense at one time or another going back to Dan Quale to now.
The author also provides some excellent ideas of what the reader can do. The book gives informed background and information to help consumers critically evaluate the story lines (or should I say PSA announcements for Big Agra) constantly being presented as "news" in the media. Recommendations on dietary changes based on avoiding GMO food products would be helpful to someone just learning about this subject.
And the author leaves the reader with a powerful message about what to do now that the reader has been given data that is unedited and unsanitized by the Big Agra/Biotech industry. The book is meant to be the foundation for a long discussion as the pro-biotech pro GMO camp is well funded, well positioned in government and they have the power to shut down media coverage that is unfavorable to them. The GMO camp always characterizes anti-GMO people as uninformed, special interest groups who are a bunch of luddites who don't understand the science. After you read this book, those characterizations will certainly not be true.
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Top reviews from other countries
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- Mr. G. EnglandReviewed in the United Kingdom on July 5, 2018
A book that cannot be left unread !
