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Title: The Ethics of Food: A Reader for the 21st Century by Gregory E. Pence ISBN: 0-7425-1334-3 Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield (Non NBN) Pub. Date: February, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.67 (3 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Needs More Radical Pieces but OK
Comment: I was pleased to see articles in this book by so many respected activists in the growing, world-wide movement to take back food from agribusiness and give control of it to indigenous peoples. The inclusion of wrtiers here such as Vandana Shiva, Mae Wan-Ho,
geneticist and eco-warior Marc Lappe, Greenpeace itself, and others makes me think that finally the Truth is getting out. I was disappointed to see almost as many articles from scientists, who obviously are on the take from Novartis and AstraZeneca that supports their work and gives them patents on terminator genes, but I guess they had to be included to make everything appear "balanced" and "fair" (as if we need to "fair" to greed and lies.)If you want to know about the REAL politics of food, and want to read some of the good guys (as well as some of the bad guys), this is as good a place to start as anywhere (and I haven't seen too many places to start!).
Rating: 5
Summary: tells it like it is
Comment: The debate about genetically-reorganized food in the literature astounds me by how passionate it is on both sides.This is IDEOLOGY infecting science on both sides. Pence does a good job of including the true passion on both sides of this intense debate. Warning: this book is NOT for those interested in charts, tables, numbers or dry technical articles. The articles selected, both by scientists and anti-scientists, show how committed each side is to the pluses and minuses of organic vs. GM food, eating meat vs vegetarianism, and capitalism vs. anti-capitalism. All in all, a fine anthologoy that accurately conveys the feelings of this new debate.
Rating: 1
Summary: Biases in the name of ethics
Comment: This should be a good book. It deals with current debates about food--mostly about genetically modified (genetically engineered) food, but with a nod to vegetarianism, the food industry, and other issues. Essays from both sides of the issues are presented.
Unfortunately, this is not a good book. The problem is that the essays are not serious or scientific pieces, but popular op-ed items, many of them outrageously biased and distorting. The editor has good credentials as an ethicist and expert on the issues, and so do a few of the writers (Norman Borlaug, Nicols Fox...), but most of the writers are political acitivists, industry shills, or experts on technology who are notably ignorant of ethics. Even the editor himself takes leave of his hard-won credentials in his essay here, which is long on rhetoric and very short on data.
The section on vegetarianism may stand as typical: it consists of a short article by Peter Singer, longtime anchor of the most extreme pro-animal and anti-meat side, and an even shorter piece by Stuart Patton, who presents half-truths in defense of the meat industry. Similarly, in a section on food biotechnology, Marc Lappe, who is well beyond the pale in the anti-industry direction, is balanced by Andrew Trewavas, an industry apologist. They simply dismiss each other's arguments--hardly a credible way to deal with real problems.
The sole exception is the section on the food industry, which matches Nicols Fox' good, well-researched reportage with a thorough, objective report by USFDA on its regulation system. Comparing this section with the rest of the book shows what could have been done--and wasn't.
Because of the general lack of extensive, fair, data-based treatment of the issues, both scientific and ethical, the book loses all chance of presenting a reasonable middle ground on the ethical issues. On genetically modified foods, for instance, the sensible position would be test them for safety, as we test other new foods, and use them if they pass the tests. Instead, what we have in the world today is a choice: either totally trust the food industry and use the new foods without serious test, as we do in the US, or ban them outright and lose all their very real advantages, as Europe does. This choice is neither reasonable nor necessary.
It seems to me that the world already has far too much biased and inadequate reportage and rhetoric--not least in the area of food ethics. Giving it more spin, under a prestigious editorship and publisher, seems to me rather less than helpful.
The editor has neglected better material; SCIENCE magazine, for example, has carried moderate and data-driven op-ed pieces, letters, and articles on several of these topics.
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Title: Designer Food by Gregory E. Pence ISBN: 0742508390 Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishing (via NBN) Pub. Date: 15 January, 2002 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
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Title: Genetically Modified Foods: Debating Biotechnology (Contemporary Issues Series) by Michael Ruse, David Castle ISBN: 1573929964 Publisher: Prometheus Books Pub. Date: November, 2002 List Price(USD): $20.00 |
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Title: Environmental Ethics: Concepts, Policy, and Theory by Joseph Desjardins, Joseph R. Des Jardins ISBN: 1559349867 Publisher: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages Pub. Date: 24 July, 1998 List Price(USD): $70.30 |
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Title: Environmental Culture: The Ecological Crisis of Reason by Val Plumwood ISBN: 0415178789 Publisher: Routledge Pub. Date: 01 January, 2002 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
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Title: The Essential Agrarian Reader: The Future of Culture, Community, and the Land by Norman Wirzba ISBN: 0813122856 Publisher: University Press of Kentucky Pub. Date: October, 2003 List Price(USD): $27.00 |
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