Pence, Gregory E. : University of Alabama

Gregory E. Pence is a medical ethicist with twenty years of experience reviewing significant cases in bioethics, and is professor in the School of Medicine and the Department of Philosophy at the University of Alabama. Pence has contributed to theNew York Times, Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, and the Journal of the American Medical Association. He is the author of Classical Cases in Medical Ethics: Accounts of the Cases that Shaped Medical Ethics, 3rd edition (2000) and Who's Afraid of Human Cloning? (1998).

"Finally, we have a book that speaks to one of the most pressing, though under-examined, issues in our biotech age. Greg Pence has produced, again, a stimulating and timely text. Crisp and comprehensive in its approach, The Ethics of Food takes stock of the morally imperative questions surrounding food production, modification, and consumption, particularly their global impact upon ecosystems. The text offers a judicious menu of readings that articulate differing perspectives from various fields. Combining scholarship and access, this pioneering work insightfully underscores the ongoing tension between food biotechnologies and biodiversity, compelling us to move toward reasonable resolutions."

--Michael Brannigan, executive director, Center for the Study of Ethics, La Roche College

Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Web Site, May, 2002

Food makes philosophers of us all. Death does the same . . . but death comes only once . . . and choices about food come many times each day. In The Ethics of Food, Gregory E. Pence brings together a collection of voices who share the view that the ethics of genetically modified food is among the most pressing societal questions of our time. This comprehensive collection addresses a broad range of subjects, including the meaning of food, moral analyses of vegetarianism and starvation, the safety and environmental risks of genetically modified food, issues of global food politics and the food industry, and the relationships among food, evolution, and human history. Will genetically modified food feed the poor or destroy the environment? Is it a threat to our health? Is the assumed healthfulness of organic food a myth or a reality? The answers to these and other questions are engagingly pursued in this substantive collection, the first of its kind to address the broad range of philosophical, sociological, political, scientific, and technological issues surrounding the ethics of food.

Part I: The Meaning of Food

A Thing Shared
M.F.K. Fisher
How We Grow Food Reflects Our Virtues and Vices
Wendell Berry

Part II: Eating Meat

Animal Liberation and Vegetarianism
Peter Singer
Meat Is Good for You
Stuart Patton

Part III: Starvation

Lifeboat Ethics: The Case against Helping the Poor
Garrett Hardin
Golden Rice Is Fool's Gold
Greenpeace International
Are We Going Mad?
Norman Borlaug

Part IV: Safety of Genetically Modified Foods

The Unholy Alliance
Mae-Wan Ho
The FDA's Volte-Face on Food Biotech
Henry I. Miller
Dr. Strangelunch: Why Should We Learn to Love Genetically Modified Food
Ronald Bailey

Part V: Benefits / Dangers of Organic Food

Organically or Genetically Modified Food: Which Is Better?
Gregory E. Pence
The Benefits of Organic Food
Tanya Maxted-Frost

Part VI: Genetically Modified Food and Environmental Risks

Genetic Engineering and Food Security
Vandana Shiva
GM Is the Best Option We Have
Anthony J. Trewavas

Part VII: Food Biotechnology and Nature

Biotechnology's Negative Impact on World Agriculture
Mark Lappe and Britt Bailey
The Population / Diversity Paradox: Agricultural Efficiency to Save Wilderness
Anthony J. Trewavas

Part VIII: Global Food Politics and Economics

A Removable Feast
C. Ford Runge and Benjamin Senauer
From Global to Local: Sowing the Seeds of Community
Helen Norberg-Hodge, Peter Goering, and John Page

Part IX: The Food Industry

The Hamburger Bacteria
Nichols Fox
The United States Food Safety System
U.S. Food and Drug Administration