Food for Thought: Catholic Insights into the Modified Food Debate

Dr. Patrick W. Colgan is Director of Research and Natural Lands at the
Royal Botanical Gardens.

A Jesuit and ethicist at St. Paul’s College at the University of
Manitoba, Perry has surely accomplished more than the “modest
contribution” he allows. Appropriately noting that Gregor Mendel was
both a monk and the founder of genetics, he sets out in this book to
evaluate biotechnology from a Roman Catholic perspective. As an opening
example of how inventions can be for good or ill, he considers barbed
wire and its uses (ranging from agriculture to death camps). Inventions
thus carry what the author terms a “social mortgage,” the
responsibilities of inventors and producers to society.

Under intellectual property rights, Perry examines the central issue
for patents of profits versus ethics, and, for biotechnology, seed
piracy and “terminator” genes. He scrutinizes the core matter of
private property in terms of biblical scripture and ecclesiastical
arguments, and discusses instances where companies have given their
products freely to poor nations. And he considers the risks of
genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in terms of public perceptions,
testing, and health (he is right to insist that only detailed labeling
will enable consumers to make informed choices).

The final chapter, on transgenic modification and the Eucharist, is the
most difficult. Drawing on Roman Catholicism and other Christian
writings, Perry seeks to find parallels between transubstantiation and
the controversial current legal concept of substantial equivalence of
strains of, say, corn. Scientific and theological concepts become
inextricably entwined here, and readers will find some of the text
either profound or meaningless.

Overall, the style is direct and clear (except in the case of
theological concepts that are indeed recondite), and referencing is
extensive. It is interesting that after viewing GMOs from a Roman
Catholic viewpoint, the author arrives at an outcome of cautious
optimism that is shared by most of the secular world at large. But his
conclusion that “social justice ... is only possible with the help of
divine grace” will raise eyebrows. Readers of all faiths will find
Perry’s review of biotechnological events useful. His analysis in
terms of Roman Catholic theology will presumably appeal most to those of
that and neighboring faiths.