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Dinner at the New Gene Café: How Genetic Engineering Is Changing What We Eat, How We Live, and the Global Politics of Food
The definitive book on the rise of biotechnology and genetic modification in the world's food supply, a growing topic of fierce international debate.
Biotech companies are racing to alter the genetic building blocks of the world's food. In the United States, the primary venue for this quiet revolution, the acreage of genetically modified crops has soared from zero to 70 million acres since 1996. More than half of America's processed grocery products-from cornflakes to granola bars to diet drinks-contain gene-altered ingredients. But the U.S., unlike Europe and other democratic nations, does not require labeling of modified food.
Dinner at the New Gene Caf� expertly lays out the battle lines of the impending collision between a powerful but unproved technology and a gathering resistance from people worried about the safety of genetic change.
Should be required reading for anyone who eats --Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Biotech companies are racing to alter the genetic building blocks of the world's food. In the United States, the primary venue for this quiet revolution, the acreage of genetically modified crops has soared from zero to 70 million acres since 1996. More than half of America's processed grocery products-from cornflakes to granola bars to diet drinks-contain gene-altered ingredients. But the U.S., unlike Europe and other democratic nations, does not require labeling of modified food.
Dinner at the New Gene Caf� expertly lays out the battle lines of the impending collision between a powerful but unproved technology and a gathering resistance from people worried about the safety of genetic change.
Should be required reading for anyone who eats --Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
400 pages, Paperback
First published September 24, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 16, 2013
This is the first book I've read re: GMO's and I found it fascinating. I picked it up having had an interest in the whole topic and not really understanding why such intense emotions accompany this topic. This author does a fairly good job of presenting the arguments for and against the biotechnology involved in engineering genetically modified food. The WTO that met in Seattle, WA, at the turn of the century brought,from all over the world, the radicals on both sides of the GMO debate together in a weekend of heated debate. On the one side were the large biotechnology giants like Monsanto and on the other side were the earth first, environmentalists, organic and other farmers who had concerns as to how the new technology was going to affect the ecosystems of the earth and the politics of food around the world.
Here is a fairly succinct list of worries that opponents had:
"The anti-GM movement that coalesced in Seattle had separate components: environmental advocates challenging an unproved technology, left leaning trade groups condemning the patenting of genetic technologies as exploiting the world's poor; consumer advocates pressing demands for mandatory labeling of genetically modified foods; and farmers concerned about multinationals controlling what they grow."(pg340)
Monsanto reps. meanwhile insisted that GM food was as safe as traditionally farmed food and that in fact, it was safer to grow b/c it required less chemical spraying to keep down the pests. It was, they said, the way to provide an adequate food supply for a growing world population. What was interesting to me was that Monsanto also had a vested economic interest in the outcome of the GMO debate. They were requiring technology fees and signed contracts that included a promise not to re-use seeds from the GM crops b/c of patents on the technology. This alone seems like a red flag. And it has been for many countries who say that a corporation that is heading down that road is also close to controlling the world food supply.
I have big reservations on the whole idea of GMO's ... not just stemming from the fact that GMO technology has not had enough time to prove what problems they may create for humans and the animal and plant ecosystems, or from the standpoint of controlling the world's food supply, but from the standpoint of ethics. The origins of genetic engineering have their roots in the eugenics movement of the late 1800's and early 1900's. In a previous book I read on the history of eugenics in America, the same people who are pushing research in the area of genetic engineering were involved in the eugenics movement ie. the American Agriculture Dept. and foundations like the Rockefeller Foundation. With the end of WWII and the forthcoming revelations of genocide by the Nazis, the eugenic movement lost much of its support and then basically went underground and re-emerged in the new and more acceptable guise of genetic engineering. I think there is plenty of room for skepticism in this whole debate re: GMO's of any kind.
This book stirred up my curiosity to read more about this topic.
Here is a fairly succinct list of worries that opponents had:
"The anti-GM movement that coalesced in Seattle had separate components: environmental advocates challenging an unproved technology, left leaning trade groups condemning the patenting of genetic technologies as exploiting the world's poor; consumer advocates pressing demands for mandatory labeling of genetically modified foods; and farmers concerned about multinationals controlling what they grow."(pg340)
Monsanto reps. meanwhile insisted that GM food was as safe as traditionally farmed food and that in fact, it was safer to grow b/c it required less chemical spraying to keep down the pests. It was, they said, the way to provide an adequate food supply for a growing world population. What was interesting to me was that Monsanto also had a vested economic interest in the outcome of the GMO debate. They were requiring technology fees and signed contracts that included a promise not to re-use seeds from the GM crops b/c of patents on the technology. This alone seems like a red flag. And it has been for many countries who say that a corporation that is heading down that road is also close to controlling the world food supply.
I have big reservations on the whole idea of GMO's ... not just stemming from the fact that GMO technology has not had enough time to prove what problems they may create for humans and the animal and plant ecosystems, or from the standpoint of controlling the world's food supply, but from the standpoint of ethics. The origins of genetic engineering have their roots in the eugenics movement of the late 1800's and early 1900's. In a previous book I read on the history of eugenics in America, the same people who are pushing research in the area of genetic engineering were involved in the eugenics movement ie. the American Agriculture Dept. and foundations like the Rockefeller Foundation. With the end of WWII and the forthcoming revelations of genocide by the Nazis, the eugenic movement lost much of its support and then basically went underground and re-emerged in the new and more acceptable guise of genetic engineering. I think there is plenty of room for skepticism in this whole debate re: GMO's of any kind.
This book stirred up my curiosity to read more about this topic.
December 10, 2013
This book was a very interesting read. It had many facts that amazed me by how great their numbers were. This book showed how little people know about how are foods actually are in america. This book would be a good humanitarian topic to talk about for a book talk and a TED. It has tons of information and facts to talk to people about. This book also helps you get peoples perspective and viewpoints from all around the world. All around I think this book is a fairley good book and would be a good humanitarian topic to do. also i think this book doesnt have much of a personel connection becasue it was mostly just stats and goods and bads of both sides.
August 22, 2010
Interesting! I think it's a bit outdated-- amazing, since it was only published in 2001-- but a lot has happened in the field of genetically engineered foods in 9 years!
So far, it hasn't really changed my mind on the use of GMO food; however, author Lambrecht does a commendable job of presenting both sides of the issue.
So far, it hasn't really changed my mind on the use of GMO food; however, author Lambrecht does a commendable job of presenting both sides of the issue.
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January 9, 2009another l.a. book. it was really amazing to learn what does and doesnt go into our bodies every day... makes me want to eat organic:)
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews