The Frankenfood Myth

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The Frankenfood Myth: How Protest and Politics Threaten the Biotech Revolution argues against over-regulation of genetically modified food.^[1]

Hoover Institution research fellow Henry I. Miller and political scientist Gregory Conko authored the book.

Praeger Publishers published the book in 2004.

The book features a foreword by Nobel Peace Prize-winner Norman Ernest Borlaug, architect of the Green Revolution, and credited with saving over a billion lives.

In an interview (as cited in the "References" section), Conko described Frankenfood Myth as follows.

The primary mess that we tackle has to do with an attitude that is being spread by both opponents of biotechnology and by a lot of its supporters that it is somehow uniquely risky and therefore should be subject to special caution and special regulatory oversight.

A Barron's (magazine) reviewer wrote:

“The heated debate over so-called Frankenfoods is not only about the pros and cons of genetically manipulating crops to improve their nutritional value and resistance to disease; it also concerns intellectual honesty. For years, activists opposed to the new science have been spreading unfounded and inaccurate horror stories, threatening to derail progress vitally needed to feed the world. The Frankenfood Myth by Henry Miller and Gregory Conko takes a long, hard look a both the new agricultural biotechnology and the policy debate surrounding it.” [1]

Table of contents

1. Foreword by Norman E. Borlaug
2. Prologue by John H. Moore
3. Acknowledgments
4. A Brave New World of Biotechnology? More Like a Brave Old World!
5. Myths, Mistakes, Misconceptions, and Mendacity
6. Science, Common Sense, and Nonsense
7. Caution, Precaution, and the Precautionary Principle
8. The Vagaries of U.S. Regulation
9. Legal Liability Issues
10. The Vagaries of Foreign and International Regulation
11. European Resistance to Biotechnology
12. Climbing Out of the Quagmire
13. Notes
14. Index

References

1. ^ [The author] argues that excess regulation of genetically modified food unnecessarily frightens the public and impedes research. Erika Jonietz, Technology Review, September 15, 2004

Links

• Disease resistance in fruit and vegetables