The Frankenfood Myth : How Protest and Politics Threaten the Biotech Revolution

Rating:
Summary: Comfort Food
Review:

The authors do a masterful job of exposing the misapprehension -- spread by regulators and activists, and abetted by the media -- that "genetic modification" is untested, unproven or unregulated. In fact, it is none of these things, but rather is a more precise tool than earlier techniques that can be used to craft various, extraordinarily useful plants, microbes and animals. That is, it could be used for all these things if over-regulation and the objections of activists can be overcome.

The book is not a defense of biotechnology as much as it is a demand for public policy that is based on science and common sense. It is very readable and very persuasive.




Rating:
Summary: Some needed fresh air to lend to a stale debate
Review: Dr. Miller and Mr. Conko have done a tremendous service to all of those who care about intellectual honesty. This is a no-holds barred, gloves-off attack, not of the critics of biotechnology, but of the intellectual dishonesty and rampant hucksterism that passes for enlightened debate about issues of complexity nowadays.

Some readers will find the frank, prescriptive nature of some parts of the book unsettling. Good. That is precisely what is required today, to balance the gusher of not-so-frank, less than honest and dictatorial "information" and policy recommendations coming from the other side of the debate.

This book is long overdue, and I cannot recommend it more highly. Miller and Conko challenge you to disagree, and you should feel free to do so. Just make sure you have facts and empirically-based arguments, rather than vague principles in hand, before you venture forth.

Rating:
Summary: It's about time
Review: It is time for people to stop being frightened of gene splicing, etc. when it is the answer to so much hunger and resource consumption. If we are really serious in helping third world countries as well as our own, we must quell these fears of genetic engineering causing us to erupt with three eyes or similar deformities while those in need of such resources are denied the benefit of crops that could relieve their situation.

Rating:
Summary: Honest reading
Review: Miller and Conko deserve much credit for their painstaking presentation and research. They document and present the issues of what has gone wrong with biotechnology regulation and public confusion and unawareness of the issues. A MUST for anyone who has any interest in thinking about our world.

Rating:
Summary: A Balance of Science and Nature for the Benefit of Mankind
Review: What a welcome prospective from such a distinguished duo! Extremely well written and informative. Anyone who loves food; is interested in distinguishisng myths of paranoia from scientific reality; and anyone who cares about feeding the starving populations of the world, will enjoy reading this book. It should be required reading for every member of the European Parliament. Their outdated and self-serving "Precautionary Principle" needs to be replaced by a more reasonable approach to GM foods.
Kudos to Dr. Miller and Mr. Conko for their pages of enlightenment!