The biotech industry's claim that genetically modified (GM) foods are safe is shattered in this groundbreaking book. Nearly forty health risks of the foods that Americans eat every day are presented in easy-to-read two-page spreads. The left page is designed for the quick scanning reader; it includes bullets, illustrations, and quotes. The right side offers fully referenced text, describing both research studies and theoretical risks. It is presented in the clear, accessible style that made Jeffrey Smith's Seeds of Deception the world's best-selling book on genetically engineered foods. The second half of Genetic Roulette explores why children are most at risk, how to avoid GM foods, false claims by biotech advocates, how industry research is rigged to avoid finding problems, why GM crops are not needed to feed the world, the economic losses associated with these crops, and more. This book, prepared in collaboration with a team of international scientists, is for anyone wanting to understand GM technology, to learn how to protect themselves, or to share their concerns with others. As the world's most complete reference on the health risks of GM foods, Genetic Roulette is also ideal for schools and libraries. Consider some findings: * Animals fed genetically modified (GM) foods developed bleeding stomachs, potentially precancerous cell growth, damaged organs and immune systems, kidney inflammation, problems with blood and liver cells, and unexplained deaths. * Soy allergies skyrocketed in the United Kingdom after GM soy was introduced.* Genes from GM crops transfer to human gut bacteria. This might transform our intestinal flora into living pesticide factories.
Book Description
Frequently Bought Together
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Product Description
Review
"This is the authentic book on genetic modification that the world has been waiting for. . . . The case presented is absolutely a smoking shotgun that should stop in its tracks any dabbling with GM foods, whether by individual families, food companies, or indeed nations. . . . Jeffrey Smith is one of the great campaigners of our age, a relentless pursuer of the truth, a fearless advocate in the corporate world of secret influence, and a ceaseless promoter of the public interest across the world. He is the modern David against the GM Goliath. This book may well provide the sling-shot to change the global course of events this century."--Excerpts from the foreword by Michael Meacher, MP, former UK government environment minister
About the Author
Jeffrey M. Smith is the director of the Institute for Responsible Technology and is one of the world's leading advocates against GM foods. His book Seeds of Deception is rated the number one book on the subject and has had a substantial influence on public perception and even legislation. Smith has reached tens of millions of people through hundreds of media interviews. He produced the video Hidden Dangers in Kids' Meals, and also writes a popular monthly syndicated column. He is on the Genetic Engineering Committee of the Sierra Club, was the former vice president of marketing for a GMO detection laboratory, and ran for U.S. Congress in his home state of Iowa to raise public awareness of the health and environmental dangers of GM foods.
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Read this book, or even just the introduction, and you are unlikely to want to eat any genetically modified (GM) food again. The known dangers and observed effects are first described. Then is outlined the fact that there is no competent mechanism in place to protect people from these dangers. Government regulations are not sufficient to identify most of the health issues, and industry safety studies, relied upon by governments, are rigged to avoid finding problems.
The standard picture that some would have you believe is that taking a gene from one organism and placing it in another is like taking a page out of one book and placing it in an appropriate place in another book. Take a gene that produces a flashing green light in one organism and add it in the right place to the DNA of another organism and presto it now produces a flashing green light. This pretty picture could hardly be more misleading. This is not what is done, and the result is not what this simple picture would have one expect..
Firstly, the transfer of a gene from one organism to another is accomplished in shotgun fashion. There is little control over where the gene ends up, the gene may be damaged in the process, and the genes of the receiving DNA may be damaged. The result can be a shambles, with bits of DNA where they do not belong, duplicated and so on. The altered DNA can produce proteins which may be toxic. Actually, the idea that a gene is a particular isolated well-defined sequence of DNA is not correct.
You would think that the companies involved would at least sequence the new DNA they make. If they do, they don't supply the information to the regulators and do their best to prevent researchers from doing the sequencing. When researchers do it they find a mess. They also find that the DNA is unstable and changes in time.
Secondly, the insertion of some new sequence into the DNA of an organism has unpredictable consequences since what a piece of DNA does depends on other parts of the DNA. A holistic understanding is needed, and that simply does not exist.
It is not surprising then that genetically modified crops have produced sterile pigs, dead cows and sheep, a mysterious disease in people in the Philippines, high offspring mortality among rats and allergic reactions among cotton workers. These and numerous other examples are described in the book.
Rates of food allergy among children have skyrocketed and it is likely due to GM food, but that cannot be proved because GM food is not identified in the USA. When GM soy was introduced in the UK, soy allergies jumped 50%. In general, if there are problems with GM food we will probably never know because the cause will not be traceable and many diseases take a very long time to develop.
GM foods that have been approved have not been properly tested. In fact the companies hardly do any fundamental testing. The companies seem to have adopted a 'don't look, don't find strategy. When there is an association of GM food with animals or people becoming sick or dying, no proper investigation done. The phrase 'substantial equivalence' is used by regulators; it sounds good; it is scientific nonsense - there is no such thing.
Much of our food has been genetically modified and we don't know it. How do we know what effects it is having on us? We have no way of determining it. It was very difficult to determine that tobacco smoking causes cancer even though it was known who smoked and who didn't. Had we not known that it is unlikely that we would know even now that smoking caused cancer. There is no way to know now who is eating what genetically modified food, and we will not be able to determine the effects of it on human health. There are people around who are seriously debilitated and the medical establishment doesn't know why. Is it because of some GM food they ate? We desperately need legislation that requires labeling of genetically modified food. Why do the food companies oppose labeling so strongly? What are they afraid of?
This book is wonderfully organized. You can read a very short summary of each section, a longer summary, or the whole section, depending on your preference and level of scientific understanding.
The standard picture that some would have you believe is that taking a gene from one organism and placing it in another is like taking a page out of one book and placing it in an appropriate place in another book. Take a gene that produces a flashing green light in one organism and add it in the right place to the DNA of another organism and presto it now produces a flashing green light. This pretty picture could hardly be more misleading. This is not what is done, and the result is not what this simple picture would have one expect..
Firstly, the transfer of a gene from one organism to another is accomplished in shotgun fashion. There is little control over where the gene ends up, the gene may be damaged in the process, and the genes of the receiving DNA may be damaged. The result can be a shambles, with bits of DNA where they do not belong, duplicated and so on. The altered DNA can produce proteins which may be toxic. Actually, the idea that a gene is a particular isolated well-defined sequence of DNA is not correct.
You would think that the companies involved would at least sequence the new DNA they make. If they do, they don't supply the information to the regulators and do their best to prevent researchers from doing the sequencing. When researchers do it they find a mess. They also find that the DNA is unstable and changes in time.
Secondly, the insertion of some new sequence into the DNA of an organism has unpredictable consequences since what a piece of DNA does depends on other parts of the DNA. A holistic understanding is needed, and that simply does not exist.
It is not surprising then that genetically modified crops have produced sterile pigs, dead cows and sheep, a mysterious disease in people in the Philippines, high offspring mortality among rats and allergic reactions among cotton workers. These and numerous other examples are described in the book.
Rates of food allergy among children have skyrocketed and it is likely due to GM food, but that cannot be proved because GM food is not identified in the USA. When GM soy was introduced in the UK, soy allergies jumped 50%. In general, if there are problems with GM food we will probably never know because the cause will not be traceable and many diseases take a very long time to develop.
GM foods that have been approved have not been properly tested. In fact the companies hardly do any fundamental testing. The companies seem to have adopted a 'don't look, don't find strategy. When there is an association of GM food with animals or people becoming sick or dying, no proper investigation done. The phrase 'substantial equivalence' is used by regulators; it sounds good; it is scientific nonsense - there is no such thing.
Much of our food has been genetically modified and we don't know it. How do we know what effects it is having on us? We have no way of determining it. It was very difficult to determine that tobacco smoking causes cancer even though it was known who smoked and who didn't. Had we not known that it is unlikely that we would know even now that smoking caused cancer. There is no way to know now who is eating what genetically modified food, and we will not be able to determine the effects of it on human health. There are people around who are seriously debilitated and the medical establishment doesn't know why. Is it because of some GM food they ate? We desperately need legislation that requires labeling of genetically modified food. Why do the food companies oppose labeling so strongly? What are they afraid of?
This book is wonderfully organized. You can read a very short summary of each section, a longer summary, or the whole section, depending on your preference and level of scientific understanding.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This book is a must to help us understand the GMO issue. How to protect ones self and family from the greedy corporations.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3.9 out of 5 stars
36 reviews
135 of 145 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
The last word on GM risks
Jun 8 2007
By Ms. C. J. Robinson
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
What's your response when someone comes out with a statement they've picked up from somewhere to the effect that "There's no evidence that GM food is harmful"?
If you have time and energy, perhaps you manage to scrabble together bits and pieces from memory, the web, or an article. But considering the number of calls that the business of living places on us, perhaps you just shrug your shoulders and muse that the world is going to hell in a handbasket of Bush, Blair, and Monsanto's making and there's nothing you can do about it.
Well, now there is. Just point them in the direction of the latest book from Jeffrey Smith, Genetic Roulette.
A must-read for policy-makers, educators, and journalists, it's also invaluable for anyone who wants to sharpen their weaponry in the battle against the imposition of GM foods. And judging by emails I've received from students asking about the risks of GM food, every educational institution and public library needs a copy.
Those who enjoyed Smith's previous book, Seeds of Deception, should be warned that this isn't the same sort of read. Seeds laid out the fraud of GM through its stories: the honest scientists who were gagged, threatened, and persecuted; the consumers who got sick and died from eating a supplement produced with GM bacteria, only to have their suffering covered up by a government protecting industry interests. Genetic Roulette is not a book of stories, but an easy-to-use reference book of scientific and other documented findings on the risks of GM foods.
Contrary to what the industry would have us believe, a considerable number of findings show GM causes harm, and they are clearly presented in this book. Given the worrying lack of substantial published research, Smith also draws upon unpublished studies, case studies, medical reports, media reports, and eyewitness accounts. Unlike the notorious pronouncements of biotech industry supporters, statements of opinion are never misrepresented as scientific fact. The author has gone to great lengths to maintain accuracy, having each section of the book checked by at least three scientists.
Conspicuous by their absence are follow-up studies to those that show harm from GM foods. The book details tactics that industry uses to bury inconvenient research, including ignoring it, attempting to discredit the research or its authors, and funding competing studies so poorly designed that no meaningful findings can be extracted. If all else fails, industry-aligned researchers discount deaths of experimental animals or claim that statistically significant results have, magically, no significance at all.
The layout of the book is an exemplar of clarity and should serve as the model for any reference book. It is designed to make the material accessible to three levels of reader: scanners, casual readers, and those who want detail. Each double-page spread is devoted to a problem with GM foods, with the left-hand page having the topic heading, a quote by an expert, and a few summarizing bullet points; the right-hand page gives technical detail. You don't need a science background to understand it. While the book is not bedtime reading, terms are defined and the boggle factor is kept low. The table of contents enables the reader to scan the problems with GM food and quickly to access the evidence on each.
Smith has to be the best science communicator alive today, and this book stands as the final word on GM health risks. It's the definitive answer to those who don't know, those who don't want to know, and those who know but don't want anyone else to know.
If you have time and energy, perhaps you manage to scrabble together bits and pieces from memory, the web, or an article. But considering the number of calls that the business of living places on us, perhaps you just shrug your shoulders and muse that the world is going to hell in a handbasket of Bush, Blair, and Monsanto's making and there's nothing you can do about it.
Well, now there is. Just point them in the direction of the latest book from Jeffrey Smith, Genetic Roulette.
A must-read for policy-makers, educators, and journalists, it's also invaluable for anyone who wants to sharpen their weaponry in the battle against the imposition of GM foods. And judging by emails I've received from students asking about the risks of GM food, every educational institution and public library needs a copy.
Those who enjoyed Smith's previous book, Seeds of Deception, should be warned that this isn't the same sort of read. Seeds laid out the fraud of GM through its stories: the honest scientists who were gagged, threatened, and persecuted; the consumers who got sick and died from eating a supplement produced with GM bacteria, only to have their suffering covered up by a government protecting industry interests. Genetic Roulette is not a book of stories, but an easy-to-use reference book of scientific and other documented findings on the risks of GM foods.
Contrary to what the industry would have us believe, a considerable number of findings show GM causes harm, and they are clearly presented in this book. Given the worrying lack of substantial published research, Smith also draws upon unpublished studies, case studies, medical reports, media reports, and eyewitness accounts. Unlike the notorious pronouncements of biotech industry supporters, statements of opinion are never misrepresented as scientific fact. The author has gone to great lengths to maintain accuracy, having each section of the book checked by at least three scientists.
Conspicuous by their absence are follow-up studies to those that show harm from GM foods. The book details tactics that industry uses to bury inconvenient research, including ignoring it, attempting to discredit the research or its authors, and funding competing studies so poorly designed that no meaningful findings can be extracted. If all else fails, industry-aligned researchers discount deaths of experimental animals or claim that statistically significant results have, magically, no significance at all.
The layout of the book is an exemplar of clarity and should serve as the model for any reference book. It is designed to make the material accessible to three levels of reader: scanners, casual readers, and those who want detail. Each double-page spread is devoted to a problem with GM foods, with the left-hand page having the topic heading, a quote by an expert, and a few summarizing bullet points; the right-hand page gives technical detail. You don't need a science background to understand it. While the book is not bedtime reading, terms are defined and the boggle factor is kept low. The table of contents enables the reader to scan the problems with GM food and quickly to access the evidence on each.
Smith has to be the best science communicator alive today, and this book stands as the final word on GM health risks. It's the definitive answer to those who don't know, those who don't want to know, and those who know but don't want anyone else to know.
52 of 61 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great reference on GM foods
Sep 18 2007
By Christine H. Farlow
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
Genetic Roulette is well organized, well researched and well documented. It's layout makes it easy to pick out the main points of a topic or get all the details. It makes a handy reference and a good resource for plowing through all the specifics.
Jeffrey Smith is a stickler for accuracy. When I contacted him to use some excerpts from his books in my new editon of FOOD ADDITIVES: A Shopper's Guide..., it was very clear to me that he wanted to make sure that I was absolutely accurate with my facts. He demonstrated to me, his commitment to complete and total accuracy and publishing only factual information.
If you want to know the truth about genetically engineered food, I highly recommend this book.
Jeffrey Smith is a stickler for accuracy. When I contacted him to use some excerpts from his books in my new editon of FOOD ADDITIVES: A Shopper's Guide..., it was very clear to me that he wanted to make sure that I was absolutely accurate with my facts. He demonstrated to me, his commitment to complete and total accuracy and publishing only factual information.
If you want to know the truth about genetically engineered food, I highly recommend this book.
28 of 33 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent, if just for the references alone!
Aug 16 2009
By Brian
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is an excellent companion to The Gmo Trilogy, for readers who wish to go into greater depth. The book explores possible medical risks associated with eating genetically modified foods, and comprises 1-2 page abstracts and essays by researchers. There are a lot more hypotheses than actual conclusions here, so none of these works have reached the stage of becoming peer-reviewed articles in scientific journals. Skeptics may attach whatever significance they wish to that fact, but the references to each article are published, verifiable, and legitimate. In fact, if the dangers of GMO foods is a topic of interest to you, this book is a worthwhile purchase for the references alone! The articles are all of a scientific nature, and do not address social, political, or economic issues.
One recurring theme which comes up in these pages is the idea of drug resistance transmitted from ingested foods to intestinal flora. A common trait of many genetically modified plants is selective pesticide resistance. The desired crop can then be sprayed with these pesticides. It was previously believed that stomach acid would break down the plasmids which confer pesticide resistance, but that has been shown to be incorrect. Intact plasmids have been recovered from intestinal washings. There is prescedent to hypothesize that these plasmids could be transferred to gut flora, and under the right conditions, could cause a multidrug-resistant intestinal infection.
I don't have the expertise to judge the danger this may represent (maybe nobody does), but I would be interested in comments from anybody scientifically trained in these fields
One recurring theme which comes up in these pages is the idea of drug resistance transmitted from ingested foods to intestinal flora. A common trait of many genetically modified plants is selective pesticide resistance. The desired crop can then be sprayed with these pesticides. It was previously believed that stomach acid would break down the plasmids which confer pesticide resistance, but that has been shown to be incorrect. Intact plasmids have been recovered from intestinal washings. There is prescedent to hypothesize that these plasmids could be transferred to gut flora, and under the right conditions, could cause a multidrug-resistant intestinal infection.
I don't have the expertise to judge the danger this may represent (maybe nobody does), but I would be interested in comments from anybody scientifically trained in these fields
›
Go to Amazon.com to see all 36 reviews
3.9 out of 5 stars
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Disorders & Diseases
- Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Nutrition
- Books > New & Used Textbooks > Sciences > Agriculture
- Books > New & Used Textbooks > Sciences > Biology & Life Sciences
- Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Current Events > Poverty > Social Services & Welfare
- Books > Professional & Technical > Engineering > Bioengineering > Biotechnology
- Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Agricultural Sciences
- Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Biological Sciences > Biotechnology
- Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Biological Sciences > Genetics
- Books > Science & Math > Agricultural Sciences > Food Science
- Books > Science & Math > Biological Sciences > Biotechnology
- Books > Science & Math > Evolution > Genetics
- Books > Science & Math > Mathematics
- Books > Science & Math > Technology > Risks
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
