Genetic Roulette: The Documented Health Risks of Genetically Engineered Foods
 | Average Customer Rating: Recommend Eating genetically modified food is gambling with every bite. 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,… Product details and pricing info |
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5 Customer Reviews Posted
- I love the science
- I have been reading philosophers who claim to think about science for years. This book furnishes much information related to the science of microorganisms involved in nutrition and toxic reactions. Just to make myself perfectly clear about the philosophy side, check pages 300 to 302 of NIETZSCHE AND MODERN TIMES by Laurence Lampert, claiming that Nietzsche has a special relationship to science summarized best in book five of THE GAY SCIENCE, written by Nietzsche in the fall of 1886 while he was writing new prefaces for the books he had already written. Section 39 of THE GAY SCIENCE had something about absurdity causing people to seek a new taste and trying to live a more natural life. An important person might impose morality, religion, or law on others as a new inner need, but modern times seeks so many different tastes that such matters break down in a welter of everybody wanting everything to be all different.
Nietzsche also wrote on THE USES AND DISADVANTAGES OF HISTORY FOR LIFE. A monumental history, designed to increase appreciation for those who see themselves as a universal panacea for the world's problems, is subject to carping from those capable of critical history. Archaic history, any attempt to go way back to primitive times, as Nietzsche was attempting to learn lessons from the Greeks that he admired to counter the stupidity of his own age, helped him define the primary problems of life.
Dynamite had been a big invention with enormous effects when Nietzsche claimed, "I am dynamite!" If Nietzsche had read GENETIC ROULETTE by Jeffrey Smith instead of the daily papers, he should have declared, "I am inflamed stomach lining." Nietzsche had health problems, so he had enormous concerns about his stomach, eyes, and pains in his head. I just read about Americans having more twins than the British do because the English ban a substance increasing milk production but making milk that contains less nutrition. Udder pus was a possibility I had never considered before, and I think it is in this book to make chemical enhancement unappetizing.
The amount of detail in GENETIC ROULETTE supports the ideal of science as an attempt to understand what is happening in terms of the results of more individual metabolites than we can keep track of. The basic mechanism for making transgenes active is a threat to the natural form of DNA that comes into contact with gut bacteria. Pesticides can probably be produced in the human body as a result of chemical processes which take place in biological contexts. The big picture is getting so murky. - 2008-09-29, 1 of 1 people found this review helpful, Rated:
- Great reference on GM foods
- 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. - 2007-09-18, 10 of 12 people found this review helpful, Rated:
- GENETIC ROULETTE is a unique reference not to be missed.
- GENETIC ROULETTE: THE DOCUMENTED HEALTH RISKS OF GENETICALLY ENGINEERED FOODS is a recommended pick for college-level health libraries: it covers everything from genetic transfer issues and risks for children and newborns to safety-related assumptions that have been proven wrong, signs of toxic reactions, and more. Packed with charts, FDA review information, details on regulatory issues and industry studies, and overall health concerns, GENETIC ROULETTE is a unique reference not to be missed.
- 2007-08-06, 16 of 18 people found this review helpful, Rated:
- Food Advice from Flying cultist? Be my guest
- Jeff Smith purports to present "science" demonstrating the dangers of genetically engineered foods. Rather than deconstruct the hilariously paranoid, non-scientific boogeymen that Smith and others see in GM foods, I think readers should know just exactly who author Jeff Smith is. Then they can decide if this self-published book is worth reading. (yes, Smith published this book himself, as no respected publisher would take it)
Jeff Smith is an ardent and long-time follower of the Maharishi cult that has taken over a small town in Iowa. Over the past decade, the Maharishi cult has meddled in many things (their town only allows the sale/serving of "organic foods."), including attempts to get their members elected into political office.
Jeff Smith was an aide to a Maharishi cult candidate running for the U.S. Senate in Illinois in 1996. During the campaign, Smith and others would demonstrate "yogic flying" on the campaign trail and explain how SCIENCE shows yogic flying reduces crime, etc.
According to the University of Illinois' Daily Illini student newspaper (10/28/1996):
"Jeffrey Smith, a Davis aide and one of the three flyers, explained the idea and effects of yogic flying, which relies on practicing transcendental meditation, to the small crowd.
"Smith presented charts with evidence of a correlation between the presence of yogic flyers and an increase in the quality of life and a decrease in crime. Smith cited limited yogic flying programs in Washington D.C. and near the Middle East that resulted in less crime and more harmony.
"'(This is why) Jim Davis as the Senate candidate for the Natural Law Party believes that any city that has a group of say 7,000 yogic flyers practicing together will not only generate great coherence and cleansing effect for the nation and the entire world, but will enjoy a dramatic reduction in crime rate within the city,' Smith said."
So, please -- if you're into "yogic flying" and believe that science proves "yogic flying" reduces crime, then this book (and author) will be credible. If you have a more "grounded" view of science and food safety, steer clear of this paranoid rant.
P.S. Smith also teaches Swing Dancing if that's builds up his credibility any. - 2007-07-27, 10 of 76 people found this review helpful, Rated:
- The last word on GM risks
- 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. - 2007-06-08, 45 of 47 people found this review helpful, Rated:
