Mckay Jenkins

The White Death is a generic disaster story – we meet some adventurous young men; they undertake a mountaineering challenge; they are found thawing out of an icefield the next spring. In between human interest chapters we get assorted facts about avalanches. I don’t mean to mock a tragedy; it just doesn’t do much for me. I’m interested in what ordinary people do in disasters, with the goals of preventing disasters in the first place and mitigating their effects in the second. Well, ordinary people don’t go mountain-climbing on an avalanche-prone peak in the dead of winter. This is well-written and held my interest as far as it goes but I’m not likely to have to deal with bus passengers trapped in an avalanche while driving up a vertical cliff.… (mais)

I was surprised that Jenkins didn't toss his hat into one or the other camp. Although he noted that gene insertion and its consequences are not as simple and straightforward as Monsanto would like us to believe, he seemed to keep his mind open to benefits. Chapter 4, though, was a bloody indictment of biotech practices in Hawaii, where most of the herbicide resistant crops are developed and grown for seed. In order to prove their resistance, they are subjected to mountain of herbicides, which are not disclosed to the local public, not even for medical treatment of exposures. Hawaiians have been trying to reclaim their rights to clean air soil and water, and have been shut out all the way. Jenkins critiques the entire agro-chemical system, and offers many many alternative paradigms that are being developed. This was an excellent, thoughtful book.… (mais)

Virtually, totally lacking in good, peer-reviewed sources for information. There's a lot of "this expert says" and references to other shrill, poorly researched books on the subject. It's a very important public health and environmental topic; too important for this kind of treatment. Paracelsus told us that the dose makes the poison, and yes, I admit, it's very difficult to draw conclusions way down on the left end of the dose-response curve. But,without good research, this author comes across as just another hypochondriac.… (mais)