Books : Mendel in the Kitchen: A Scientist's View of Genetically Modified Food
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 631.5233
EAN: 9780309097383
ISBN: 030909738X
Label: Joseph Henry Press
Manufacturer: Joseph Henry Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 384
Publication Date: May 22, 2006
Publisher: Joseph Henry Press
Sales Rank: 256161
Studio: Joseph Henry Press
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Product Description:
While European restaurants race to footnote menus, reassuring concerned gourmands that no genetically modified ingredients were used in the preparation of their food, starving populations around the world eagerly await the next harvest of scientifically improved crops. "Mendel in the Kitchen" provides a clear and balanced picture of this tangled, tricky (and very timely) topic. Any farmer you talk to, could tell you that we've been playing with the genetic makeup of our food for millennia, carefully coaxing nature to do our bidding. The practice officially dates back to Gregor Mendel - who was not a renowned scientist, but a 19th century Augustinian monk. Mendel spent many hours toiling in his garden, testing and cultivating more than 28,000 pea plants, selectively determining very specific characteristics of the peas that were produced, ultimately giving birth to the idea of heredity - and the now very common practice of artificially modifying our food. But as science takes the helm, steering common field practices into the laboratory, the world is now keenly aware of how adept we have become at tinkering with nature - which in turn has produced a variety of questions. Are genetically modified foods really safe? Will the foods ultimately make us sick, perhaps in ways we can't even imagine? Isn't it genuinely dangerous to change the nature of nature itself? Nina Fedoroff, a leading geneticist and recognized expert in biotechnology, answers these questions, and more. Addressing the fear and mistrust that is rapidly spreading, Federoff and her co-author, science writer Nancy Brown, weave a narrative rich in history, technology, and science to dispel myths and misunderstandings. In the end, Fedoroff argues, plant biotechnology can help us to become better stewards of the earth while permitting us to feed ourselves and generations of children to come. Indeed, this new approach to agriculture holds the promise of being the most environmentally conservative way to increase our food supply.
Average Rating: 
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As daily consumers of the great agricultural engine of America, it's only fitting that we know how the system works. This book takes a historical approach to agriscience and the agritech business and reveals startling facts about both "conventional" and organic systems. This book was really hard for me to put down. Its description of the stresses and forces on the American farmer really moved me and has increased my awareness and respect for the struggle to provide food for the world. Now I lecture to all my friend about agriculture.
It helps to know the fundamentals of molecular biology (DNA -> RNA -> Protein) like your high school/college Intro to Bio, but if you don't, just read through and the later chapters will better explain and help understanding the earlier ones.
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First off, I am a lay reader who, prior to reading this book, was on the fence regarding genetically modified (GM) food. I had heard some scary stuff from friends and in the media but I wanted more information. After reading this book I feel reasonably well versed in GM history/opinion/issues, although as other reviewers noted, this book is definitely biased in favor of GM. To have a truly informed opinion a person ought to also read an anti GM book. That said, here are my key learnings:
(1) If a person chooses to be anti GM, in order to be consistent then there are many more foods to avoid than you might think. The definition of GM is subject to wide interpretation. Truly being opposed to any messing around with a plant's DNA would mean that you should not consume Canola, Tritricale, the majority of domestic Soy and Corn, and a LOT (!!) of other foods including many foods featured in your local health food store.
(2) As noted above the definition of GM is nebulous. Where is the line between the generally accepted cross-breeding of plants (think Luther Burbank) and the "scary" genetic modification done in a lab under a more controlled setting?
(3) The media has generated a lot of anti GM buzz and fear. Actually looking at the facts is, as usual, a lot more complicated. It takes some heavy reading, through a book such as this one, to be able to interpret the science for oneself. Most people are more content to read a quick article in a magazine ... Read More
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Interpretation of data can essentially never be said to be unbiased. At least this book doesn't try to hide the fact that the authors intrepret that data with a particular skew in mind. Instead they present a reasonable arguement and some background (data and history) to support the conclusions presented. Because of this, the book can be a bit ranting in places; the first chapter is a bit chaffing. But I wouldn't call the position extreme; instead they point out the downfalls of both "traditional" and "genetic" techniques instead of claiming that gmo's are always safe.
This book depends on the reader having some basic biology knowledge. However it does a reasonable job of presenting the difficult concepts at a basic enough level that I could understand it pretty well and I haven't had biology since high school. (Though that was only 10 years ago so if your memory of biological terms doesn't include things like cells and mitochondria you might want to have a biology text on hand to help you out.)
The overall readability of the book was quite good for a science book. The beginning and end were a bit frustrated, but writing those two items is exceptionally hard for non-fiction so I forgive the authors. One thing that I would have liked to have seen is a summary of the common examples they used that showed products & the specific traits they were bred for divided into groups of how they were modified (i.e. chemical mutation or irradiation or genetic splicing ... Read More
Rating:  -
This is an excellent book that explains, in great detail, why so much of the anti-GM food movement is scientifically misguided. It also makes the point that far from being an evil that will irrevocably damage the environment, biotechnology can be an important tool for more ecologically sound soil management, and for reducing the amount of land worldwide that must be used for farming. Most importantly, it describes the role bioengineering has to play in feeding people who will otherwise be malnourished or starving.
A warning I would offer to other readers is that, as a layperson with little formal science background, I found the going tough in spots. The section on how polymerase chain reaction works was particularly hard going, although the authors are probably to be praised for trying to make the process clear. Some concepts are extremely complicated, even in the hands of good authors.
The one disappointing aspect of this book is its one-sided approach. It is not polemical; on the contrary, the prose is always calm and reasoned, and the authors don't flinch when the story they are telling necessitates providing evidence that could be taken for anti-biotech arguments. However, they make little to no effort to summarize other points of view. (One gets the feeling that they believe, if you really understand the science, there IS no other valid point of view - this would explain why they have trouble articulating opposing viewpoints.)
This book doesn't ... Read More
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