Superpigs and Wondercorn

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Genetically engineered fish and dairy products will soon be available at our supermarkets with the Food and Drug Administration's approval, yet these foods, charges Fox, may have harmful physiological and biochemical effects on consumers. In an important, illuminating report, the popular veterinarian and nature writer ( The Soul of the Wolf ) provides a much-needed critical update on the biotechnology industry. Fox believes that genetic engineering is here to stay, but he strongly opposes the patenting of animals and insists that biotechnology be used with a proper regard for ethics, animals' well-being and ecosystems. Genetic reprogramming of animals, he demonstrates, has caused developmental abnormalities, new health problems and suffering in these creatures while proving to be of dubious benefit to humans. Fox urges a shift to an ecologically sound agriculture based on increasing consumption of vegetable protein, which biotechnology can facilitate. His review of the government's failure to regulate the biotechnology industry is timely. A resource guide is included for concerned citizens. (Oct.)

Library Journal

A veterinarian and prolific author ( Superdog: Raising the Perfect Canine Companion , LJ 6/1/90; Inhumane Society: The American Way of Exploiting Animals , LJ 8/90), Fox has written a book that is only peripherally about biotechnology. Readers looking for an introduction to some of the complexities of this new science will need to look elsewhere. This is primarily a treatise on animal rights and the likelihood of environmental disaster. Many of Fox's concerns, such as biodiversity, overuse of agricultural pesticides, and gene patenting, are serious issues that need to be seen in a broad context. But unless one shares Fox's conviction that ``what we need are not new technological fixes and medical miracles, but rather a fundamental change in world view,'' this title will be of limited interest.-- Mary Chitty, Biotrends Research, Natick, Mass.

Booknews

Veterinarian and animal rights advocate Fox surveys the present and the possible futures of biogenetics, and pleads that new technologies be used, not to extend the exploitation of the planet, but to serve the long-term interests of the global ecosystem. Well-reasoned and passionately presented. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Jon Kartman

The era of bioengineering is just dawning, but already Fox weighs in with a critique of not only the consequences but also the ethics of changing the products of millions of years of evolution into commodities designed to increase the profit margins of large corporations. At times, his text reads like a federal bureaucrat's position paper recited before a panel of bored members of Congress. Yet he raises issues that are disturbing and downright scary but still constitute proof that these are the days of miracle and wonder. It is worrisome, for instance, that genetic experiments are underway to create frost-inhibiting bacteria to replace the natural bacteria that help frost to form. Though this might increase orange growers' output, frost-forming bacteria in the air actually play a key role in the formation of raindrops and snowflakes. What will be the consequences of these bacteria's replacement upon precipitation? Of course, biotechnology also may produce new life-forms: grotesquely distorted superpigs and wondercorn--and organisms that will produce new drugs that may cure AIDS. That brave new world we read about just a few years ago will be here in the twenty-first century.