Killer Foods : When Scientists Manipulate Genes, Better Is Not Always Best

by Dr. Michael W. Fox

• ISBN13: 9781592284474
• ISBN10: 1592284477
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2004-12-01
• Publisher: The Lyons Press

Summary

Dr. Michael Fox addresses the potential ramifications of this burst of technology. From the creation of herbicide- resistant soybeans to the splicing of human genes into pigs and goats, new developments in biotechnology pose serious questions. Without fostering "biotechnophobia," Fox investigates and discusses how a new world order-one based on genetic-engineering biotechnology-will affect the course of life on earth. From the state of agri-biotechnology (an estimated 60 percent of processed foods now contain genetically engineered ingredients) to concerns about genetic pollution and the loss of wildlife to the disruption of eco-logical and evolutionary processes, Fox presents a full picture of the life-science industry for public review. Supported with documented research reports throughout.

Author Biography

DR. MICHAEL W. FOX, a veterinarian and bioethicist with doctoral degrees in ethology/animal behavior and medicine, who has spearheaded the movement to foster the ethical treatment of animals. He is the author of more than forty books including Superpigs and Wondercorn, and writes the nationally syndicated newspaper column "Animal Doctor".

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Introduction	xi
CHAPTER 1 In the Beginning	1	(22)
CHAPTER 2 Genetic Imperialism: The New World Order of Biotechnology	23	(14)
CHAPTER 3 Agribusiness and Biotechnology: New Crops and Food Problems	37	(18)
CHAPTER 4 Does Genetic Engineering Have a Place in Organic Agriculture?	55	(18)
CHAPTER 5 Genetically Engineered Animals and the New "Pharm" Animal Factories	73	(30)
CHAPTER 6 How Prevalent-and Safe-Are Genetically Engineered Foods?	103	(22)
CHAPTER 7 Biotechnology and Genetic Pollution	125	(12)
CHAPTER 8 Scientific and Bioethical Issues in Genetic-Engineering Biotechnology	137	(30)
CHAPTER 9 Corporate Ethics in Biotechnology: Hard Choices, Soft Paths	167	(16)
CHAPTER 10 Where Do We Draw the Line?	183	(10)
CHAPTER 11 Saving the Seeds of Humanity from Spiritual Corruption	193	(10)
Afterword	203	(18)
Appendix	221	(22)
Notes	243	(10)
Glossary	253	(6)
Selected Bibliography	259	(8)
Resources	267	(4)
Index	271

Excerpts

"We cannot yet create life or stop death forever with biotechnology, but we can and do control and alter much of life on earth already to serve our own pecuniary ends. The biological, ecological, evolutionary, ethical, and social consequences of genetically altering life cannot be ignored. " (p.16, from Introduction)

"Welcome to the Genetic Age. Genetic-engineering biotechnology is the fastest-growing industry in recent history, and its costs and consequences are not well understood by the general public.
Biotechnologists are developing a variety of genetic-engineering techniques to produce a host of new products and life forms. There is the promise of cures for various diseases, such as alcoholism, cystic fibrosis, and kidney disease. Pigs are being bioengineered to produce human hemoglobin so they can serve as human blood donors; other pigs have been given human-like immune systems so they can serve as organ donors for people needing new kidneys and hearts. Crops are being engineered to produce not only insecticides but also edible vaccines for people. The genes of venom-producing spiders are being isolated and spliced into edible plants to help combat insect pests, many of which have become resistant to chemical pesticides. Will this new technology help feed the hungry world and provide even drought-resistant and more nutritious crops? Or is the development of such super crops part of the complex of forces that actually contribute to world hunger and poverty?
Without careful deliberation and public involvement in the decision-making process of how this new technology is applied and its consequences, the very integrity and future of creation may be irreparably disrupted, at great cost to future generations. We have acquired a godlike power over earth's creation via our dominion over the genes of life. If we do not use this newfound power to heal the earth by healing ourselves, and heal ourselves by healing the earth, then the suffering of humanity and the desecration of the environment will continue. Are we opening Pandora's box, releasing forces about which we know little, whose cumulative domino effect could be socially, economically, and environmentally devastating?
. . . [T]he primary emphasis has been on getting third-world farmers to use their land not to feed their communities and their many starving animals better, but to produce cash crops for 0export. More and more people go hungry without local food of good quality or the natural products they once gathered from uncultivated wild lands, which contributed to the sustainable social economy of hundreds of thousands of villages and tribal settlements around the world.
. . . The term farmer is a misnomer for those who produce essentially biomass vegetable oils, starches, and amino acids for various branches of the life-science industrial complex, from the livestock feed sector to the processed-food and beverage industries. These commodity-crop producers, many with thousands of acres of land, are the relatively elite contact peons of corporate agribusiness serfdom that has enslaved and then bankrupted hundreds of thousands of smaller, diversified family farms and crushed the spirit of rural life throughout much of the industrial world.
In a letter to his sister Wilhelmina in 1888, Vincent van Gogh wrote, "In every man who is healthy and natural there is a germinating force as in a grain of wheat . . .what the germinating force is in the grain of wheat, love is in us." If van Gogh were alive today, I wonder how he would paint the vast fields of genetically engineered commodity crops, which look like biological deserts without a village or a field worker in sight. " (from Chapter 2: Genetic Imperialism: The New World Order of Biotechnology)

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Excerpted from Killer Foods: When Scientists Manipulate Genes, Better Is Not Always Best by Michael W. Fox
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