It started with little fanfare over a decade ago, when genetically modified foods quietly appeared on American grocery shelves. But in the years since, GM foods have sparked a global controversy and sounded alarms here at home, triggered by a multitude of unanswered questions and dubious practices, such as highly publicized cases of "biopharm" crops contaminating the food supply...runaway commodity prices and worldwide food shortages triggered, in part, by the biofuel movement...Europe's open hostility to GM foods and Africa's outright refusal to accept food aid containing genetically modified crops.

Combining solid scientific knowledge with a gripping narrative, esteemed molecular biol­ogist Dr. Lisa H. Weasel helps readers make sense of this complex, contentious issue. Positioning itself directly at the intersection of food, politics, and technology, Food Fray captures the real-life experiences and wide-ranging perspectives of the scientists, farmers, policy­makers, and grassroots activists on the front lines of this fierce debate, teasing out the hype from the reality and uncovering the very real pros and cons of genetically modified foods.

Insightful and even-handed, Food Fray:

• Exposes the ruthless business practices of biotech giants such as Monsanto, which demands that new GM seeds be purchased each year and aggressively pursues violators.
• Examines the romantic, pre-scientific mentality that inflames anti-GMF passions in Europe and stirs a deep-rooted fear of "Frankenfoods."
• Looks at the troubling question of whether a corporation can own proprietary rights to something as essential to survival as seeds.
• Uncovers hypocritical elements of the Bush Administration's push for GMF as a humanitarian measure for starving Third World nations.
• Reveals the benefits of high-yield GM rice in providing crucial calories to the chronically hungry — while inadvertently reducing dietary variety and causing malnutrition.
• Explains the complicated science behind GM foods, and the sound reasons that pro-GMF sentiments prevail in the scientific community.
• Explores the future potential of GM crops to provide global food security — and the need to put the public good above the profit motives that drive the biotech industry.

Genetically modified foods are ubiquitous in the American diet — 80 percent of all corn and 92 percent of soybeans grown in the U.S. are now GM varieties. But it's a science with the potential to bring both good and harm, and an issue with no easy answers. Food Fray looks at every aspect of the debate from multiple per­spectives, giving you the information you need to make up your own mind.

"Eighty percent or more of all corn, cotton and soybeans grown in the United States consists of genetically modified (GM) varieties, according to Weasel. But she only gives these statistics at the end of her account of the battle over GM organisms, leaving readers till then with the impression that an equal 'tug-of-war' is in progress. The author, a biologist at Portland State University in Oregon, also skimps on the science in the battle over whether genetically modified organisms and foods are safe for both the environment and people, focusing instead on the legal, political and emotional aspects of the tussle between big business, which claims that GM products can solve world hunger and reduce disease, and environmentalists asserting that bad science is being driven by corporate greed. She summarizes a number of the most important skirmishes, such as over golden rice (manipulated to have high levels of vitamin A) and the injection of artificial bovine growth hormone into cattle to boost milk production. But her account is relatively flat and superficial, doing a workmanlike job of covering political issues but leaving readers short of what they need to evaluate GM." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Author Weasel, scientist and educator (biology, Portland State U.) cuts through the hype regarding genetically modified food and related ethical and political issues. The author notes that 80 percent of all corn and 92 percent of all soybeans grown in the United States are products of genetic engineering and that more than half of Americans surveyed believe they have never eaten a genetically modified product and wouldn't if they were given a choice. The well-written and well- researched book combines interviews with scientists, activists, farmers, and consumers with scientific insights into this contemporary controversy. Annotation ©2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

More than ten years ago, the first genetically modified foods took their place on the shelves of American supermarkets. But while American consumers remained blissfully unconcerned with the new products that suddenly filled their kitchens, Europeans were much more wary of these "Frankenfoods." When famine struck Africa in 2002, several nations refused shipments of genetically modified foods, fueling a controversy that put the issue on the world's political agenda for good.

In Food Fray, esteemed molecular biologist Dr. Lisa H. Weasel brings readers into the center of this debate, capturing the real-life experiences of the scientists, farmers, policymakers and grassroots activists on the front lines. Here she combines solid scientific knowledge and a gripping narrative to tell the real story behind the headlines and the hype. Seminal and cutting-edge, Food Fray enlightens and informs and will allow readers to make up their own minds about one of the most important issues facing us today.

Lisa H. Weasel, Ph.D., is a molecular biologist and the recipient of a grant from the National Science Foundation to study the issue of genetically modified foods. She is currently a tenured professor of biology at Portland State University in Oregon and a member of Governor Ted Kulongoski's task force on developing public policy for bio-pharmaceutical crops in Oregon. She lives in Portland.