TRAVELS IN THE GENETICALLY MODIFIED ZONE

A scientific perspective on the question of whether continuing to tamper with the DNA of food crops will produce a brave new world or the end of one as we know it.

The “travels” of the title comprise a broad series of interviews with scientists, activists, farmers, consumers, and government regulators representing all aspects of the growing debate over transgenic (i.e., genetically modified or “GM”) crops and the resultant food ingredients. The reporting from Winston (Biological Sciences/Simon Fraser Univ., British Columbia; Nature Wars, 1997) is nothing if not thorough—occasionally to the point of plodding reiteration. Essentially, Winston feels that rhetorical pressure tinged with hysteria have pushed science to the background, paralyzed government regulators, tarred industry (deservedly) with its own brush and thus impeded progress that would undoubtedly have produced far more benefits than have yet been realized from a “breakthrough” now roughly in its third decade. Winston’s ultimate example involves the Monsanto Corporation’s relinquishing of proprietary technology (patented gene transplants) so that “Golden Rice” fortified with its own beta carotene (yieldingVitamin A) can be grown at minimal cost in India and other Asian countries where millions of children suffer fatal diseases and blindness due to vitamin-deficient diets. The response: Indian activists reject the move as a “Trojan Horse” designed to put Western multinational companies in control of the world’s food supply. This kind of polarization continues to deepen primarily outside the US despite the fact, Winston asserts, that none of the ill effects scientifically validated as attributable to GM crops have been any worse than those caused by conventional agricultural practices, while the overall reduced pesticide use made possible in many instances has to be considered a plus for the environment and human health.

Balanced anatomy of a classic risks-versus-rewards dilemma.