Books About DNA: Tomorrow’s Table

by Dr. Hsien-Hsien Lei
Posted May 2, 2008 in Books About DNA, DNA Quotes and Excerpts, Genetically Modified Foods and Organisms

Tomorrow’s Table: Organic Farming, Genetics, and the Future of Food by Pamela C. Ronald and R. W. Adamchak

From Dr. Ronald’s blog:

One of the major themes of our book “Tomorrow’s Table: Organic Farming, Genetics and the Future of Food” is that the judicious incorporation of two important strands of agriculture—genetic engineering and organic farming—is key to helping feed the growing population in an ecologically balanced manner. We are not suggesting that organic farming and GE alone will provide all the changes needed in agriculture. Other farming systems and technological changes, as well as modified government policies, undoubtedly are also needed. Yet it is hard to avoid the sense that organic farming and genetic engineering each will play an increasingly important role, and that they somehow have been pitted unnecessarily against each other. Our ambition in this book, therefore, is not to be comprehensive, but to identify roles for both GE and organic farming in the future of food production.

Another theme of the book is that the broader goals of ecologically responsible farming, and the adherence to those ideals, are more important than the methods used to develop new plant varieties. To this end, we have generated a list of key criteria
to help guide policy decisions about the use of GE in food and farming.

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Comment by mwana mwega

2008-05-02 17:12:55

This is a very good point and that I totally agree with. Genetic engineering will not provide a silver bullet to the current food crisis. And neither organic foods. Unfortunately, some people would like us to believe so. They want to criminalize all the work that companies like Monsanto and Dupont do. By the way people need to read a recent article in the New York Times that shows organic foods are beyond the reach of ordinary people.

I must warn against any attempt to make organic foods look bad. As this book points out, we meet multi-pronged approached to deal with the current food crisis. The same way it’s wrong to smear Monsanto, it’s also inappropriate to throw mud at Whole Foods Market. Blogger James, in his blog GMO Africa, encourages that people engage in a constructive debate about genetically modified foods. He decries sensationalism and misinformation which is currently the hallmark of this debate.

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Comment by Trisha

2008-05-06 02:38:06

Thanks for writing something positive about genetically modified foods!

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