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McKay Jenkins to Speak at Miami – “Eating It: GMOs, Industrial Food, and 'Feeding the World'"

By Sarah Tyrrell

Author McKay Jenkins will be visiting Miami University Thursday, Nov. 12 to speak about the science and politics of genetically modified organisms and the food industry.

Genetically modified organisms, GMOs, are allowing farmers to produce major crop yields and feed the world. But at what consequence, if any, are we yielding thousands of tons of food with the aid of GMOs? Are GMOs safe? Should companies be required to label GMOs? What consequences are associated with industrial agriculture? What might be some alternatives? These are some of the questions Jenkins may touch on at his lecture.

Jenkins has been writing about people and the natural world for over thirty years. A former staff writer at the Atlanta Constitution, he holds degrees from Amherst, Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism, and Princeton.

Jenkins is the author of ContamiNation and What’s Gotten into Us? Staying Healhy in a Toxic World, and he is a co-author of Poison Spring. Although he has written books on other topics, these are strong environmental stories that compel readers to become more concerned about chemicals they come in contact with every day.

jenkinsJenkins is currently the Cornelius Tilghman Professor of English, Journalism and Environmental Humanities at the University of Delaware.

The Western Program, Department of Media, Journalism, and Film, the Humanities Center, and IES will be sponsoring the lecture. Come and listen to McKay Jenkins at 4:00pm Thursday, Nov. 12 at the Leonard Theatre in Peabody Hall.