Modern biotechnology has surpassed science fiction with such feats as putting fish genes in tomatoes to create a more cold-resistant crop. While the environmental and health concerns over such genetically modified foods have been the subject of public debate, religious and spiritual viewpoints have been given short shrift. This book seeks to understand the moral and religious attitudes of groups within pluralistic societies whose traditions and beliefs raise for them unique questions about food and dietary practice. What questions are there for kosher Jews, halal Muslims, and vegetarian Hindus about food products containing transgenes from prohibited sources? How do these foods impact the cultural practices and spiritual teachings of indigenous peoples? Concerns from the above traditions as well as Christianity, Buddhism, Chinese religion, and ethical vegetarianism are included. Contributors look at the ethical context of each tradition and also include information from focus groups. This enlightening work concludes with recommendations for the labeling of genetically modified foods.
Author(s): Conrad G. Brunk, Harold Coward
Series: SUNY Series on Religion and the Environment
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Year: 2009
Language: English
Pages: 272
Title Page ......Page 5
Contents......Page 7
Introduction......Page 9
1. Genetics and Genetically Modified Organisms......Page 27
2. Ethical Perspectives on Food Biotechnology......Page 47
3. Does Vegetarianism Preclude Eating GM Foods?......Page 71
4. “When You Plow the Field,Your Torah Is with You” Genetic Modification and GM Food in the Jewish Tradition(s)......Page 89
5. Some Christian Reflections on GM Food......Page 123
6. Genetically Modified Foods and Muslim Ethics......Page 143
7. A Hundred Autumns to Flourish: Hindu Attitudes to Genetically Modified Food......Page 167
8. The Karma of Genetically Modified Food: A Buddhist Perspective......Page 187
9. “So That You May Have It with No Harm”: Changing Attitudes toward Food in Late Imperial China......Page 205
10. Born from Bears and Corn: Why Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Beliefs Matter in the Debate on GM Foods......Page 219
11. Regulatory and Innovation Implications of Religious and Ethical Sensitivities concerning GM Food......Page 239
Contributors......Page 265
B......Page 271
C......Page 272
E......Page 273
G......Page 274
K......Page 275
M......Page 276
Q......Page 277
S......Page 278
V......Page 279
Z......Page 280
