Silent Killer

There are still a billion hungry people in the world. 15,000 children-the equivalent of five times the victims of the World Trade Center bombings-die each day of hunger. Yet it doesn't have to be this way. We can end hunger-if we make a commitment to doing so. Silent Killer shows how it can be done.

Silent Killer begins in the 100-degree heat of South Africa's Kalahari Desert. Three members of the Khomani San tribe-commonly called Bushmen-search for, and find, the Hoodia, a cactus-like plant with appetite-suppressant properties. The razor-thin San use the cactus to fend off hunger, but now, a pharmaceutical firm has patented the appetite-suppressant properties of Hoodia and is using it to make a diet product for obese Americans and Europeans. The Hoodia is a metaphor for a world where some people have too much food, but millions of others have far too little.

From there, travel to Kenya and to the World Food Summit in Rome, and learn how activists have been working to end hunger since John Kennedy declared war on it in 1963. Can we end hunger or will it always be with us? Why should we try? What will it take? What are we doing now? How do U.S. efforts to end hunger compare with those of other developed countries? Is hunger just a problem of distribution or do we still need to produce more and better crops? Can biotechnology play a role, and if so, how? These are the questions addressed in Silent Killer .