Engineering the Farm

by Bailey, Britt; Lappe, Marc

• ISBN13: 9781559639477
• ISBN10: 1559639474
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-05-01
• Publisher: Island Pr

Summary

Engineering the Farmoffers a wide-ranging examination of the social and ethical issues surrounding the production and consumption of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), with leading thinkers and activists taking a broad theoretical approach to the subject. Topics covered include: the historical roots of the anti-biotechnology movement ethical issues involved in introducing genetically altered crops questions of patenting and labeling the "precautionary principle" and its role in the regulation of GMOs effects of genetic modification on the world's food supply ecological concerns and impacts on traditional varieties of domesticated crops potential health effects of GMOsContributors argue that the scope, scale, and size of the present venture in crop modification is so vast and intensive that a thoroughgoing review of agricultural biotechnology must consider its global, moral, cultural, and ecological impacts as well as its effects on individual consumers. Throughout, they argue that more research is needed on genetically modified food and that consumers are entitled to specific information about how food products have been developed.Despite its increasing role in worldwide food production, little has been written about the broader social and ethical implications of GMOs. Engineering the Farmoffers a unique approach to the subject for academics, activists, and policymakers involved with questions of environmental policy, ethics, agriculture, environmental health, and related fields.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	xi
Preface	xiii
Britt Bailey
Introduction. GMOs, Luddites, and Concerned Citizens	1	(10)
Marc Lappe
Britt Bailey
Ethical Issues Involving the Production, Planting, and Distribution of Genetically Modified Crops	11	(16)
Sheldon Krimsky
Why Food Biotechnology Needs and Opt Out	27	(18)
Paul B. Thompson
A Naturalist Looks at Agricultural Biotechnology	45	(16)
Brewster Kneen
When Transgenes Wander, Should We Worry?	61	(6)
Norman C. Ellstrand
Patents, Plants, and People: The Need for a New Ethical Paradigm	67	(14)
Lori B. Andrews
Taking Seriously the Claim That Genetic Engineering Could End Hunger: A Critical Analysis	81	(14)
Peter Rosset
The European Response to GM Foods: Rethinking Food Governance	95	(18)
David Barling
A Societal Role for Assessing the Safety of Bioengineered Foods	113	(12)
Britt Bailey
Learning to Speak Ethics in Technological Debates	125	(10)
Carolyn Raffensperger
A Perspective on Anti-Biotechnology Convictions	135	(22)
Marc Lappe
Afterword The Biotech Distraction	157	(4)
Frances Moore Lappe
Appendix A In Defense of the Precautionary Principle	161	(3)
Carolyn Raffensperger
Katherine Barrett
Appendix B A Declaration of Bioethics and Agricultural Biotechnology	164	(3)
Marc Lappe
Phil Bereano
Notes	167	(20)
About the Contributors	187	(4)
Index	191