High-Tech Harvest

School Library Journal

Gr 7-10-An excellent overview of the brave new world of genetically engineered foods. Marshall gives a clearly written, concise explanation of recombinant DNA technology and goes on to examine its application to crop plants and farm animals in order to produce foods that are more appealing in taste and appearance, or have a longer shelf life. Her step-by-step look at gene-transfer techniques is well done. The author goes on to look at the effect of genetic engineering on government regulation and labeling of food items, and ethical and philosophical questions that such technology raises, as well as its implications in fighting world hunger, and what the future holds. Some black-and-white photographs and simple line drawings illustrate the text, but the book has a serious, somewhat technical appearance. Thorough source documentation is included. Linda Tagliaferro's Genetic Engineering (Lerner, 1997) looks at the field of this technology beyond its application to foods.-Joyce Adams Burner, Hillcrest Library, Prairie Village, KS Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.