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  • Published: 15 August 2003
  • ISBN: 9780375724985
  • Imprint: Knopf US
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 352
  • RRP: $32.99

Eating in the Dark

America's Experiment with Genetically Engineered Food



Most Americans eat genetically modified food on a daily basis, but few of us are aware we’re eating something that has been altered. Meanwhile, consumers abroad refuse to buy our engineered crops; their groceries are labeled so that everyone knows if the contents have been modified. What’s going on here? Why does the U.S. government treat engineered foods so differently from the rest of the world?

Eating in the Dark tells the story of how these new foods quietly entered America’s food supply. Kathleen Hart explores biotechnology’s real potential to enhance nutrition and cut farmers’ expenses. She also reveals the process by which American government agencies decided not to label genetically modified food, and not to require biotech companies to perform even basic safety tests on their products. Combining a balanced perspective with a sense of urgency, Eating in the Dark is a captivating and important story account of the science and politics propelling the genetic alteration of our food.

  • Published: 15 August 2003
  • ISBN: 9780375724985
  • Imprint: Knopf US
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 352
  • RRP: $32.99

About the author

Kathleen Hart

Kathleen Hart is a journalist who has been writing about health and the environment for more than sixteen years. She has covered agriculture and biotechnology for Food Chemical News and has reported on nuclear power and nonproliferation for McGraw-Hill’s Nucleonics Week. Her articles have appeared in the Boston Globe and the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, and other publications. She has been a guest on numerous television and radio stations, including National Public Radio and C-SPAN. She lives in Washington, D.C.