The MOF&G Online
Reviews
Seeds of Deception: Exposing Industry and Government Lies about the Safety of the Genetically Engineered Foods You’re Eating
by Jeffrey M. Smith
Yes! Books, 2003. ISBN: 0-9729665-7-9; $27.95
Publishers choose subtitles to summarize books succinctly--especially since patrons tend to read far more book titles than reviews. Smith, who has a background in marketing, knows that genetic engineering raises many questions, but chose to focus this book solely on the health issues surrounding those genetically modified organisms we consume as part of our daily diet. His subtitle perfectly summarizes his contention (amply referenced and footnoted) that genetically engineered food being consumed by the American public is sold not because it is safe, but because government rubber-stamps the "food safety" data provided by multinational corporations that are looking out only for their bottom line.
If you’re used to science served dry, the first chapter, which reads like a lost script from "Unsolved Mysteries," may put you off – it’s chatty, emotional and full of the personal feelings of Smith’s major characters. However, once Smith begins to explain the science behind genetic engineering in the second chapter, one realizes that he not only understands the complex processes used to alter the cellular environment, he can explain those processes so that you can understand them, too. Smith desperately wants everyone to understand how rudimentary and full of unintended consequences the current techniques are that produce the genetically engineered food most of us are consuming unawares since, unlike in Europe, the U.S. government does not require genetically engineered food to be labeled as such. If being accessible to a wide audience means borrowing from the "you are there" style of true crime TV shows, Smith will plow right in and use that style. Luckily, he has the footnotes, memos and transcripts to back up his "crime novel" style.
If you don’t have time to read the book, most of the salient points are listed on Smith’s Web site, www.seedsofdeception.com. I still believe the best introductory book on genetic engineering is Genetic Engineering, Food and Our Environment by Luke Anderson (ISBN: 1-890132-55-1); however, Smith’s book is more recent (2003 to Anderson’s 1999), so it includes more recent history. (Unfortunately, the actions of industry and government have not changed a bit from 1999 to 2003 – only the names of the players have changed.) And Smith, especially in the second chapter and the epilogue, explains current techniques and understanding of the cellular/genetic environment more fully than Anderson. If you’ve been put off by pro-biotechnology pundits saying that "those who oppose genetic engineering are doing so because they don’t understand the science," then you should read Smith’s book – his greatest strength is that he does understand the science, and after reading this book, you will, too.
Smith spends the last two chapters of his book urging folks to join his e-mail newsletter and to buy discounted copies of the book for policymakers. I’m not sure why anyone should join Smith’s organization rather than any of the others listed on his Links Web page (Organic Consumers Association, The Campaign to Label Genetically Engineered Foods, Organic Trade Association, etc., or even Seed Savers Exchange [which he does not list]) that have been discussing this issue much longer than he has. Considering that Smith spends much of his book explaining that the collusion between U.S. government officials and agri-business executives is responsible for genetically engineered food being on the market in the first place, I’m not sure what giving a copy of this book to policymakers would achieve, either. Smith has me convinced that these folks already know that genetically engineered foods are of questionable safety, but have chosen to ignore the entire issue so that they can benefit from the revolving door between regulator and regulated and make big bucks for themselves while doing so. Rather than sending such people a book that lists what they already know, joining one of the well-known campaigns to label or further test genetically engineered foods probably would be more useful.
To his credit, Smith does encourage political action and provides sample letters for doing so on his Web site. If you are still confused about the science (and the politics that influences what portion of that science is published) surrounding GE food, Seeds of Deception is a good place to start your education.
Dorene Pasekoff
Phoenixville, Penn.
© 2004 by the author. For information on reproducing this article, please contact the author through jenglish@midcoast.com.
Diary of a Compost Hotline Operator: Edible Essays on City Farming by Spring Gillard, New Society Publishers, 2003. $15.95.
When folks ask questions on the American Community Gardening Association listserve (join at www.communitygarden.org/listserve/index.html), the regulars usually advise them to:
1) Ask Adam Honigman (Clinton Community Garden Volunteer, New York City)
or
2) Check the City Farmer Web site (www.cityfarmer.org/, Vancouver, B.C.)
Diary of a Compost Hotline Operator gives you everything the City Farmer Web site is known for: top-notch information, and resources and links for every problem an urban (and not so urban) grower faces: water issues, critter control, natural lawn care, alternatives to pesticides, edible landscapes, doggy doo, good and bad bugs, and, of course, extensive information on urban composting. Every chapter ends with a Contacts and Resources section that lists the best Web sites, organizations and publications for the chapter’s topics. And, it’s funny, too.
As the Compost Hotline Operator for City Farmer – Canada’s Office of Urban Agriculture (a 26-year-old organization that really does have a life outside its Web site!) since 1991, Spring Gillard has heard it all – and enjoyed every minute of it. An advertising refugee, Gillard uses her considerable wordsmithing talents to leaven the serious information she imparts with a generous dollop of humor and all around "joie de vivre" about the life she now lives.
The biggest advantages of the book over the Web site are that it’s portable, it’s better organized and you get the real dirt about the dedicated people at City Farmer. (The PR materials that came with the book use such terms as "eccentric," "motley crew" and "crazed," but I guess I’ve been in urban agriculture too long– everyone at City Farmer sounds downright normal to me!)
If you’ve been in urban agriculture for any amount of time, this book will ring true. If you’re thinking about serious growing in an urban area or are just starting your first compost heap, read this book. You’ll find both the information you need and a warm welcome to one of the most frustrating, yet rewarding endeavors in North America.
--Dorene Pasekoff
Phoenixville, Penn.
© 2004 by the author. For information on reproducing this article, please contact the author through jenglish@midcoast.com.
The Cornell Small Farms Program offers online information at www.cals.cornell.edu/agfoodcommunity/CornellSmallFarmEfforts.html about a variety of marketing strategies, including agritourism; cooperative marketing; farmers' markets; community supported agriculture; exports; Internet marketing; market trends and research; organic marketing; value-added products; and wholesale marketing.
Source: Agriculture Today, Maine Dept. of Ag., March 9, 2004, at www.maine.gov/agriculture/newsletter/feature_8.htm.
Farming Articles Available on New Farm Web Site
The New Farm® offers many article of interest to farmers at www.newfarm.org. Examples include:
"Introducing a Cover Crop Roller Without All the Drawbacks of a Stalk Chopper" -- Farm manager of The Rodale Institute®, Jeff Moyer, and a plain Mennonite neighbor, John Brubaker, have designed and constructed a front-mounted cover-crop roller that allows you to knock down a weed-suppressing mat and plant through it, all in one quick pass. The roller makes an effective weed-suppressing mat out of a cover crop and gives corn and soybeans the time they need to establish themselves. Tools like this roller can revolutionize no-till and conservation tillage systems even for conventional farmers and make organic no-till not only feasible but highly effective and inexpensive.
www.newfarm.org/depts/NFfield_trials/1103/notillroller.shtml
"Heritage Turkeys: A Fast-Growing Profitable Niche for Adventuresome Farmers" -- "Heritage" turkeys are enjoying a culinary comeback. Thanks to the joint efforts of breed conservationists, farmers and a consumer’s movement called Slow Food, demand for heritage turkeys surged in 2003. A new niche in a corporate controlled market, heritage turkeys are helping bring turkey genetics and profits (at $4 per pound vs. 39 cents) back to the farm. www.newfarm.org/features/1103/heritageturkey.shtml
"The Hot Topic: Microbes...and How to Make the Most of Them" -- Microbes are the hottest topic and yet the least known aspect of organic agriculture. The U.S. Northwest has been the epicenter of compost tea research and use in North America for years. Researcher and reporter Don Lotter wandered the halls and seminar rooms of the Washington Tilth Producers' annual conference, gathering details on everything from a really inexpensive compost tea brewer to growing fungi that first attract, then later kill insect pests. www.newfarm.org/depts/talking_shop/1103/wa_tilth1.shtml
"Smart Tools for Small Farms" -- tips on flame weeders, mustard cover crops, seed production and restaurant sales from four workshops at the Washington Tilth conference.