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.

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).

Chapter 1Chapter I: The Meaning of FoodChapter 2 A Thing SharedChapter 3 How We Grow Food Reflects Our Virtues and VicesChapter 4Chapter II: Eating MeatChapter 5 Animal Liberation and VegetarianismChapter 6 Meat Is Good for YouChapter 7Chapter III: StarvationChapter 8 Lifeboat Ethics: The Case against Helping the PoorChapter 9 Golden Rice Is Fool's GoldChapter 10 Are We Going Mad?Chapter 11Chapter IV: Safety of Genetically Modified FoodsChapter 12 The Unholy AllianceChapter 13 The FDA's Volte-Face on Food BiotechChapter 14 Dr. Strangelunch: Why Should We Learn to Love Genetically Modified FoodChapter 15Chapter V: Benefits / Dangers of Organic FoodChapter 16 Organically or Genetically Modified Food: Which Is Better?Chapter 17 The Benefits of Organic FoodChapter 18Chapter VI: Genetically Modified Food and Environmental RisksChapter 19 Genetic Engineering and Food SecurityChapter 20 GM Is the Best Option We HaveChapter 21Chapter VII: Food Biotechnology and NatureChapter 22 Biotechnology's Negative Impact on World AgricultureChapter 23 The Population / Diversity Paradox: Agricultural Efficiency to Save WildernessChapter 24Chapter VIII: Global Food Politics and EconomicsChapter 25 A Removable FeastChapter 26 From Global to Local: Sowing the Seeds of CommunityChapter 27Chapter IX: The Food IndustryChapter 28 The Hamburger BacteriaChapter 29 The United States Food Safety System