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Book reviews for "Lappe,_Marc" sorted by average review score:

Engineering the Farm: The Social and Ethical Aspects of Agricultural Biotechnology
Published in Paperback by Island Press (15 June, 2002)
Authors: Britt Bailey and Marc Lappe
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Engaging & Informative
When it comes to topics like bioengineering, a lot of people publish theses and dissertations or they rant on in a political diatribe. Bailey is the rare exception who knows what she's talking about and makes it interesting. It's a refreshing surprise to come across a writer who has not only the scholarly credentials to do the work, but has the life experiences to draw upon to bring the points home. This is like reading a good novel except the characters are real, the planet is ours and the facts are astounding. This book will keep you not only informed and educated on the subject but it will entertain you as well. Now that's the kind of book we all enjoy reading.

A terrific follow-up to "Against the Grain"....
"Engineering the Farm" is a must-read for anyone who eats...like "Against the Grain" (Lappe & Bailey's first book on the issue), "Engineering" explores the issue of agricultural biotechnology. In this book, Bailey & Lappe turn to a dozen or so other experts, each of whom provides a unique perspective on the impact of biotechnology on our lives--physical, environmental, social, ethical, and even spiritual effects which are too often ignored. Pick one up (and then pass it along!)


The Body's Edge: Our Cultural Obsession With Skin
Published in Hardcover by Henry Holt & Company, Inc. (1996)
Author: Marc Lappe
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The obsession actually goes beyond culture
The skin is the largest organ in our bodies, and it is one of the things that defines us in the eyes of others. It is not nearly enough to say that someone is black, or brown or white since there are many shades of black, brown and white, and as far as skin goes not one of them is really black, brown or white. Also there is a difference in the smoothness and texture of skin that is seldom addressed, but very keenly felt. I am amazed that I can tell the relative age of someone even in a still photo by the feel of their skin that my eyes can discern. Is there anything so appealing as the graphite smooth skin of youth? And how we notice it! And how we long to reclaim it! Which, in a sense, is what Lappé means by "Our Cultural Obsession with Skin." We are attracted to and repulsed by the skin of others. Big pores may offend us. An oily sheen may put us off. Freckles we may like or not. Skin advertises our age and the state of our health. Try as we might we cannot hide because our skin is there for all to see.. And the skin doesn't lie, although how hard we try to get it to!

This is an informative and interesting but hardly inclusive little book, especially strong on how we try to improve the appearance of our skin. One of Lappé's major points is that there isn't all that much we can do. Most of what the pharmaceutical industry sells us doesn't work. He offers insights into how the skin functions, to what extent it is a barrier and a sieve. He includes material on "the silicone story," and skin diseases, but is a little heavy on his role and interest in testifying against some chemical companies--but certainly I think we can approve of that.

Although I enjoyed reading this, I would like to see a book on skin that goes more deeply into the cross-cultural and political aspects of skin, how the color and texture, how the oiliness and the blemishes of the skin affect different people. Also a more detailed history about attitudes toward skin differences would be very interesting, including practices such as scaring, tattooing and how the grooming instinct is played out on the skin.

In short this is readable and interesting, but only touches the surface. (I know that's a stupid pun, sorry.)

You Will Learn Just As Much As Reading a Medical Reference
You will learn just as much as reading a medical reference, except Marc Lappe adroitly puts it all together in a plain text. We are all very obesses with colors and appearance of our skins yet neglect the fact that skin is the front-line boundary against an inimical world. Therefore, more than to your anesthetic sense of beauty, the skin provides resistance and separates us from the outside world through a thinnest of margins. Lappe discusses how the newly discovered permeability of the skin, long recognized by other cultures, has lead to the use of drug-bearing patches; how potentially harmful chemicals penetrate the skin; how vulnerable we are to particular environments. You have to read it yourself and discover "skin".

I was a great book!
This was the best book i have ever read in my life. I learned so many causes and how it could be gone. I think this book is a good reference.


Against the Grain: Biotechnology and the Corporate Takeover of Your Food
Published in Paperback by LPC (1998)
Authors: Marc Lappe, Britt Bailey, and Mare Lappe
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Fearful but Sloppy
The authors warn against the dangers of genetically modified (GM) grains and cotton. These dangers involve possible escape of the artificially inserted gene(s) for pesticide or insect resistance, overspray of pesticide onto non-resistant crops, insects acquiring resistance to the Bt gene, corporate control of seeds to be used with specific herbicides, failure of transgenic crops, and the lack of increase in crop yields. All of these are genuine concerns, for which the authors admit that there is no proof, just worries; but the advantages get short shrift.

No evidence is presented on actual failures except for one set of transgenic cotton plants. Escape of genes could be fought with new seeds not containing the gene. The dread that insects will build resistance to the natural bacterial toxins of the Bt gene is poorly couched, because all prior experience is that insects will do so in time, and the amount of time is all that is in doubt. Corporate control of seeds and herbicides will last only as long as the patents, and then "generics" are likely to appear. We have had corporate control of hybrid seeds and pesticides for 3/4 century as it is. If crop yields become significantly lower, the transgenic strains will be dropped. It is unlikely that all crops will fail at the same time.

Nobel Prize winner Norman E. Borlaug, the father of the green revolution, and not an inventor of transgenic plants, could have spoken against them, but has done the opposite. In the Wall Street Journal, 22 Jan 03, pA.14, he wrote: "Although there have always been those in society who resist change, the intensity of the attacks against GM crops from some quarters is unprecedented and, in certain cases, even surprising, given the potential environmental benefits that such technology can bring by reducing the use of pesticides. Genetic engineering of crops -- plant breeding at the molecular level -- is not some kind of witchcraft, but rather the progressive harnessing of the forces of nature to the benefit of feeding the human race. The idea that a new technology should be barred until proven conclusively that it can do no harm is unrealistic and unwise. Scientific advance always involves some risk of unintended outcomes. Indeed, "zero biological risk" is not even attainable.

"Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa says he's been told by anti-biotechnology groups that donated American corn is "poison" because it contains GM kernels. Based on such misinformation, he is willing to risk thousands of additional starvation deaths rather than distribute the same corn Americans have been eating for years with no ill effects."

Another cautious, reasonable view is that of Bjørn Lomborg, The Skeptical Environmentalist, Cambridge University Press, UK, 2001, pp342-348. Examples of faked data on the toxicity of GM potatoes on rats and overblown fears of the effect of Bt corn on the monarch butterfly were given. Lomborg thinks the gains are worth the risks, and advises proceeding very cautiously, thus not to drop all the GM programs.

*****
The main reason for my 1-star rating for this book is not its conclusions, but its style. Despite academic-style referencing, albeit with almost no peer-reviewed papers on the actual subject of GM foods, the authors use practically every ploy practiced by propagandists.

The herbicide bromoxynil is said to have a toxic nitrile function (p.viii). The most common nitrile, acetonitrile, has an LD50 orally in rats of 3800 mg/kg, thus is less toxic than salt!

A "...horrible debacle from overuse of DDT..." (p.16) is not exemplified, but we are to think it had to do with thinning of birds' eggshells, which was disproven before DDT was banned in the USA by the EPA.

"Many countries like India are at the balance between survival and famine" (p.17). Then how is it then that 1/2 of south Asian adults are overweight and 1/3 are obese? (Lancet 2003;361:79).

"But the metabolic fate of DBHA [metabolite of bromoxynil] in the mammalian body has never been studied -- or at least reported" (p.42). A quick search of PubMed turned up: St John LE, Lisk DJ. Fate of the herbicides bromoxynil and casseron in cows. J Dairy Sci 1967;50(4):582-4.

The paucity of chemical knowledge of these authors is shown by the following: "Bromoxynil octanoate, the active ingredient in bromoxynil, is converted into bromoxynil phenol (what we have been calling DBHA) when it is metabolized in mammals. Although this step is designed to detoxify bromoxynil and make the molecule more easily excreted by the body, the by-product remains at least as toxic as its parent compounds" (p.43-4). The octanoate ester is the oil-soluble form of bromoxynil used in formulations; it is not the active form, which is bromoxynil itself, which is a phenol, so should not be called "bromoxynil phenol". Since most bromoxynil is metabolized to its acid derivative, DBHA, this "by-product" cannot be more toxic than its parent.

"Roundup [glyphosate] may also damage many non-target plants" (p.54). Well, of course! How many of us use Roundup to knock off all plants before seasonal planting?

"In 1993, 6 out of 7 plots...showed lower yields for conventional vs. transgenic soybeans" (p.83). This is exactly the opposite of one of the main points these authors tried to make -- that GM plants give lower yields!

Several times the authors trot out the old vegetarian aphorism that cattle convert their food to meat with only 10% efficiency (p.87), with 12% efficiency (p.112,135), and with 40 % efficiency (p.147). The authors do not seem to understand that humans do not like to eat wild grass, hay, alfalfa, or soybean hulls.

Diethylstilbestrol (DES) which had been used in cattle feed with some health problems in humans is trotted out like DDT as a scare mechanism, but it is not a plant product or a result of GM foods.

The "undesirability" of corporate profits is emphasized many times.

An attempt is made to foment alarm in orthodox religionists by hinting that GM foods may not be kosher or Halal.

Right at the core, sloppy with the details.
As a scientist working in the bio-industry, I felt compelled to read this book. Unfortunately, while it makes a number of good points and correctly identifies areas of uncertainity, it somewhat marres the pleasure of reading it by suboptimal craftmanship - incidentally one of the criticisms that are correctly made to our industry. I resented some factual mistakes and the impression that the book was not proofread before going to print, leaving it with some contradictions and loose ends. But, I repeat, the essence is right: "wait a minute!"

debunks the GM myth
In only 150 pages, "Against the Grain" debunks many of the myths surrounding biotechnology and the genetic engineering that is revolutionizing US (and world) agriculture.One of the myths which "Against the Grain" debunks is the claim that genetically engineered crops are aimed at feeding the hungry of the world. As "Against the Grain" quite lucidly points out, if genetically engineered crops were aimed at feeding the hungry of the world then companies like Monsanto would develop seeds with certain characteristics such as: the ability to grow in substandard soils; the ability for plants to produce more protein, with increased per-acre yield, without increasing the need for expensive machinery, chemicals, fertilizer or water; they would aim to favour small farms over large farms; seeds would be cheap and freely available without restrictive licensing; they would be for crops that feed people, not animals.

None of the genetically engineered crops now available have any of these characteristics. In fact new genetically engineered seeds require high-quality soils, huge investment in machinery and an increased use of chemicals.As "Against the Garin" so adeptly illustrates, the genetic engineering revolution has nothing to do with feeding the world's hungry but everything to do with enriching a priviledged few.


The Tao of Immunology: A Revolutionary New Understanding of Our Body's Defenses
Published in Hardcover by Perseus Publishing (1997)
Author: Marc Lappe
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A book with an interesting thesis, but very poor science.

This book begins with the thesis that the immune system has elements of good and bad, depending on the situation. This is an excellent starting point and one I use often with my classes. However, Dr. Lappe does not have the depth of knowledge he needs to make me want to read further. Technically incorrect statements (for example, Herpes virus is an RNA virus and IgE has 4 antigen binding sites) degrade the import of his ideas. I cannot recommend this book to my students or the lay public, because of Lappe's basic science errors. In addition, these errors may cause the scientific community to disregard important ideas that are needed to to bring western allopathic medicine closer to the healing traditions found in eastern and native cultures.

great!
great


Breakout: The Evolving Threat of Drug-Resistant Disease
Published in Paperback by Sierra Club Books (1995)
Author: Marc Lappe
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coming plague revisited
I felt that this book didn't say much that wasn't in Garrett's book, but it was a bit more concise. I can't really see why Garrett would offer her support of the book given that they seem to overlap so much. Overall it was an insightful look at the role of evolution in medical practice.

as a side note: Why does the cover art look like a shattered Star of David. Is this some sort of subliminal message? If anyone has any answers e-mail me at amilner@ufl.edu


Justice and the Human Genome Project
Published in Hardcover by University of California Press (1994)
Authors: Timothy F. Murphy and Marc A. Lappe
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Against the Grain: The Genetic Transformation of Global Agriculture
Published in Hardcover by Kogan Page (01 January, 1999)
Authors: Marc Lappe, Britt Bailey, and Tim Lang
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Broken Code: The Exploitation of DNA
Published in Hardcover by Sierra Club Books (1985)
Author: Marc Lappe
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Chemical Deception: The Toxic Threat to Health and the Environment
Published in Paperback by Sierra Club Books (1992)
Author: Marc Lappe
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Cutting DNA : The Exploitation of Our Genetic Legacy
Published in Hardcover by Common Courage Press (2003)
Author: Marc Lappé
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