For most people, the global war over genetically modified foods is a distant and confusing one. The battles are conducted in the mystifying language of genetics.

A handful of corporate "life science" giants, such as Monsanto, are pitted against a worldwide network of anticorporate ecowarriors like Greenpeace. And yet the possible benefits of biotech agriculture to our food supply are too vital to be left to either partisan.

The companies claim to be leading a new agricultural revolution that will save the world with crops modified to survive frost, drought, pests, and plague. The greens warn that "playing God" with plant genes is dangerous. It could create new allergies, upset ecosystems, destroy biodiversity, and produce uncontrollable mutations. Worst of all, the antibiotech forces say, a single food conglomerate could end up telling us what to eat.

In "Food, Inc.," acclaimed journalist Peter Pringle shows how both sides in this overheated conflict have made false promises, engaged in propaganda science, and indulged in fear-mongering. In this urgent dispatch, he suggests that a fertile partnership between consumers, corporations, scientists, and farmers could still allow the biotech harvest to reach its full potential in helping to overcome the problem of world hunger, providing nutritious food and keeping the environment healthy.

A research biologist tells the clear-eyed story of modern plant genetics, the human manipulation of biotechnology, and the reality of genetically engineered plants worldwide. Genetically engineered plant products line the shelves of our grocery stores, but we don't know which ones they are because no label identifies them. Should we be concerned? It is true that biotech companies are saying that engineered corn and canola are safe, but are they telling the truth? In High Tech Harvest, Paul Lurquin answers these questions and more, believing that the public has a right to know and understand how its food is manipulated at the most basic level, that of the DNA itself. With the goal to inform, and a mission to reinforce the importance of the scientific method, Paul Lurquin writes a comprehensive and user-friendly description of the scientific origins, the development, and the applications of genetically modified plants throughout the world today. Lurquin argues that only with an understanding of the basic science can people make informed and reasonable decisions about genetically modified foods.

Entwicklungen in Biomedizin, Genetik und Informatik fA1/4hren zu einem Wissenszuwachs im VerstAndnis der Ursachen und Entstehungsmechanismen von Krankheiten. Damit verbunden ist die Hoffnung, zukA1/4nftig Krankheitsrisiken frA1/4hzeitiger zu erkennen und durch MaAnahmen der Entwicklung von Krankheiten vorzubeugen. Mehr als andere Untersuchungsergebnisse erlauben genetische Informationen Aussagen A1/4ber den Gesundheitszustand auch von FamilienangehArigen. Sie bergen damit das Risiko konfligierender Interessen im Hinblick auf deren autonome LebensfA1/4hrung und informationelle Selbstbestimmung in sich.

Das Buch enthAlt die auf dem 10. Einbecker Workshop gehaltenen VortrAge, die sich aus medizinisch-naturwissenschaftlicher und juristischer Sicht mit dem Thema befassen. Im Anhang werden wichtige Materialien zum Thema Gentest ergAnzt. So ist das Asterreichische Gentechnikgesetz, der Schweizer Entwurf eines Gentestgesetzes und der Entwurf der Fraktion der GRAoeNEN im Bundestag fA1/4r ein Deutsches Gentestgesetz enthalten.

This book is about an issue of our times which does not yet get the attention that it deserves - the growing dominance of huge transnational corporations over every aspect of our lives from executive super-pay to private sector pension funds. The authors of this book look at one particular kind of modern corporation - the hi-tech agro-chemical and genetic engineering companies that now dominate the food chain. In this richly detailed account, they show how a handful of companies have: - Accelerated the industrialization of agriculture and the integration of the global economy in order to gain an alarming control over the food chain. - Penetrated the previously independent world of scholarly research both in universities and the specialized international agricultural research centres in CGIAR. - Manipulated public opinion, including distorting our understanding of key environmental processes and issues. - Unduly influenced regulatory agencies and national governments. - Turned international bodies like the WTO, the World Bank, and the FAO into instruments devising rules and policies primarily of benefit to corporate growth and corporate profit. - And now are further expanding by bullying the governments and farmers of the developing countries to accept their technologies and products. Whether you are interested in the environment, democracy, or the development of countries in the South, the information and analysis contained in this book will prove both disturbing and empowering.

Eat Your Genes describes the genetic engineering techniques used in agriculture. It explores the food industry's commercial motivations, why certain crop modifications have predominated, and the importance of patenting to the genetic engineering enterprise. This book explains how crop segregation and labelling are central to the debate, and outlines the development of consumer resistance to the marketing of GM food in Europe. The potential health and ecological risks, the ethical issues, and the implications for both industrialized and developing countries are examined. The author argues that genetic engineering is still a long way from meeting its promises of feeding the world's hungry and contributing to a more eco-friendly agriculture. As the public debate over the desirability of GM food continues, this is the book to help you think through what is involved.

Reshaping Life is an eminently authoritative and lucid description of modern molecular biology and genetics, and the ethical implications of genetic engineering. Now in its third edition, it is fully revised and updated, taking advantage of a decade of progress in genetics and biotechnology. It offers a concise working knowledge of DNA science and of those aspects of cell biology needed to understand such issues as animal cloning, genetically modified food, and gene therapy. It examines the debates on the sociological and ethical issues surrounding modern technology, laying out the issues for the reader, while urging a rational approach.

Reshaping Life is an eminently authoritative and lucid description of modern molecular biology and genetics, and the ethical implications of genetic engineering. Now in its third edition, it is fully revised and updated, taking advantage of a decade of progress in genetics and biotechnology. It offers a concise working knowledge of DNA science and of those aspects of cell biology needed to understand such issues as animal cloning, genetically modified food, and gene therapy. It examines the debates on the sociological and ethical issues surrounding modern technology, laying out the issues for the reader, while urging a rational approach.

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.

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.

Providing the first account of the story behind genetically engineered plants, Paul F. Lurquin covers the controversial birth of the field, its sudden death, phoenixlike reemergence, and ultimate triumph as not only a legitimate field of science but a new tool of multinational corporate interests. In addition, Lurquin looks ahead to the potential impact this revolutionary technology will have on human welfare.

As Lurquin shows, it was the intense competition between international labs that resulted in the creation of the first transgenic plants. Two very different approaches to plant genetic engineering came to fruition at practically the same time, and Lurquin's account demonstrates how cross-fertilization between the two areas was critical to success. The scientists concerned were trying to tackle some very basic scientific problems and did not foresee the way that corporations would apply their methodology. With detailed accounts of the work of individual scientists and teams all over the world, Lurquin pieces together a remarkable account.

Biotechnologies developed over the past few decades have opened up a wide range of avenues and opportunities in diverse sectors, yet the scale of the today's global debate on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and their application in agriculture is unprecedented. Furthermore, the scientific and policy bases for assessing and passing judgement on genetically engineered products are necessarily evolving as rapidly as the pace of evolution in biotechnology itself. The purpose of this publication -- the second in FAO's new series dedicated to ethics in food and agriculture - is to share the current knowledge of genetically engineered products in relation to consumers, including the safety of their food and protection of their health, and environmental conservation. It seeks to unravel and explore the claims and counterclaims being made in the GMO debate from an ethical perspective, considering the proprietary nature of the tools used to produce GMOs, the potential consequences of their use in intensifying food production and the unintended and undesirable effects that their application could have, both now and in the future.

The possibility that human beings may soon be cloned has generated enormous anxiety and fueled a vigorous debate about the ethics of contemporary science. Unfortunately, much of this debate about cloning has treated cloning as singular and revolutionary. The essays in Cloning and the Future of Human Embryo Research place debates about cloning in the context of reproductive technology and human embryo research. Although novel, cloning is really just the next step in a series of reproductive interventions that began with in vitro fertilization in 1978. Cloning, embryo research, and reproductive technology must therefore be discussed together in order to be understood. The authors of this volume bring these topics together by examining the status of preimplantation embryos, debates about cloning and embryo research, and the formulation of public policy. The book is distinctive in framing cloning as inextricably tied to embryo research and in offering both secular and religious perspectives on cloning and embryo research.

Der Autor erklart die Widerstande gegen einzelne Anwendungsbereiche der Gentechnik, beleuchtet deren historische Hintergrunde und untersucht Moglichkeiten, die Akzeptanz der Gentechnik zu beeinflussen."

Each plant species has its own unique passage that is affected by its gene pool, dispersal ability, interactions with competitors and pests, and the habitats and climactic conditions to which it is exposed. This book will explore plant species as dynamic entities within this passage, following the four stages of plant species life that normally occur. Those four stages can be identified as birth, expansion, differentiation and loss of cohesion, and decline/extinction. Each chapter focuses on part of the speciation process and examines it closely in the light of exploring the species passage from birth to death.

Arguing that human evolution has come to a stand-still, this book sets out to explore the evolutionary steps that have defined life on this planet. It describes the stages from cosmic to chemical and biological evolution and to the development of civilization and culture. From this scientific approach, the author concludes that new rules of ethics are required in order to maintain and improve the civilization and culture of humanity. Matare argues for corrective genetic interference and explores the moral implications.

Explore the late 20th-century history and development of plant, animal, and human genetics in this collection of 135 documents. Included are samples of commentaries on these scientific developments from the scientists themselves, government departments, ethicists, religious leaders, and various interest groups. Students, teachers, and interested readers can use this valuable resource to trace the different arguments and concerns surrounding the controversial topic of genetic engineering. Arranged topically, and highlighting in particular the human genome project, which seeks to map the entire human genome, this valuable resource provides an excellent background for research and debate with its broad range of pro and con opinions.

The easy to use format allows the reader to focus on one particular aspect of genetic engineering or to compare and contrast the arguments presented in more than one area. The six different areas include: Animal Applications, Agriculture, The Human Genome Project, Issues in Research, Ethical Issues, and Cloning. The documents in each section, carefully selected to represent a wide range of positions, present samples of social, ethical, and religious commentary that have evolved due to developments in modern genetics as they relate to plants, animals, and humans. Such developments include the applications of these technologies to create transgenic crops, to patent animals, to provide gene therapy for humans, and to clone plants and animals, as well as possibly cloning humans. Shannon's volume will be a welcome resource for those looking to explore these issues from as many different angles as possible.

Human cloning is a prospect the contributors to Clones and Clones view with varying degrees of alarm, calm, ambivalence, and not a little humor. Ranging from psychoanalyst Adam Phillips's case study of a child whose confusion of "cloning" and "clothing" expresses our mixed desire and terror of sameness, to Stephen Jay Gould's and Richard Dawkins's "characteristically pithy and intelligent" essays (Civilization); from William Ian Miller's analysis of the queasiness the subject elicits in many of us, to Martha Nussbaum's witty and elegiac fantasy of the cloning of a lost lover-this superb collection limns our beliefs and concerns about what it means to be human. The writers here, says the San Diego Union-Tribune, "comprise an eclectic group, but their observations on the science and ethics of cloning, how it might fit into and affect human society and what the future might bring are just the sort of thinking that . . . we need more of." Praise for Clones and Clones: "A worthy exploration of a discomfiting topic." - Foreign Affairs "Greatly aid[s] the cloning debate." - Washington Post "The spectrum of authors and their varying perspectives in fact and fiction are assets to anyone who hopes to understand this broad issue and its vast cultural implications." - Publishers Weekly

Human beings have on the order of 100,000 different genes encoding the molecules needed to build and operate the human body; defects in any one of them can lead to disastrous consequences. There are an estimated 4,000 genetic diseases, which can be every bit as devastating as the diseases caused by bacteria or viruses, and in one way they are much worse: we pass them on to our children, generation after generation after generation. The New Healers is the story of the devastation these diseases cause, and the scientific researchers and doctors who struggle to combat them. Science and medicine have provided us with clues to the treatment of a few genetic diseases, although by their very nature they have never been considered curable. But, as William R. Clark shows, that is about to change through one of the most profound revolutions in modern medicine: gene therapy, a branch of the new field of molecular medicine. Clark takes us to the laboratories which have been able to isolate human genes, to make billions of copies of them, and to reintroduce healthy genes into unfortunate individuals who have inherited damaged or functionless genes. He also shows us how this same technology, turned around on itself, can also be used to deliberately introduce "bad" genes to attack and destroy unwanted cells, such as cancer cells or those infected with the AIDS virus. Molecular medicine will be a major part of our lives in the new millennium. The New Healers outlines the powerful and compelling logic behind molecular medicine: that everything we know about molecular biology tells us that it can work, and that it will work. Clark introduces us to the scientists working now to map out the entire human genome, easily the medical equivalent of going to the moon, taking human beings to a completely new level of understanding of our biological selves. Clark also helps us to begin thinking about how we will manage that understanding, and how we will use the information we gain. The New Healers is a clear and compelling introduction to this important new frontier of human medicine, outlining for readers all the basic elements of molecular biology necessary to understand molecular medicine, and illustrating the fascinating stories of those doctors and patients already a part of this exciting future -- a future as full of promise as anything we have witnessed in this past century of remarkable progress.

The announcement last spring that a lab in Scotland had successfully cloned a mammal captured the attention of the media and the imagination of the public. This culmination of decades of research has profound scientific and ethical implications. If applied to other species, cloning could further genetic engineering and greatly improve animal husbandry. Now that a sheep has been cloned, are humans next? Governments reacted swiftly with bans on funding for human cloning research. Churches united in calling for a complete ban on the cloning of higher animals. Critics immediately alluded to Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" and the myth of Icarus. Has scientific sophistication outpaced our social and moral development? Can we "save" our society from this possible evil by banning any attempts to expand the knowledge? Does cloning really differ in spirit from the selective breeding that humankind has performed for centuries? "Cloning: For and Against" comprises 30 articles by scientists, ethicists, religious leaders and legal experts who explore the benefits and costs of cloning. Topics include: playing God: is cloning against human nature?; is cloning the salvation for endangered species?; no need for marriage: the separation of reproduction from human relationships; can you xerox a soul? and other theological issues; Brave New World: what's possible and what isn't; clones in medicine; and a million Michael Jacksons: eugenic/dysgenic and cultural consequences of human cloning.

This title examines the impact of this potentially dangerous technology on food sources, animals, and our own bodies.

Cloning is one of the most hotly debated issues to have hit the world news in years. The first book of its kind. Flesh of My Flesh is a collection of articles by today's most-respected scientists, philosophers, bioethicists, theologians, and law professors about whether we should allow human cloning. The book includes historical pieces to provide background for the current debate. Religious, philosophical, and legal points of view are all represented. Flesh of My Flesh offers a fascinating and comprehensive look at this important and complex issue.

This text provides an investigation into how the Human Genome Project (HGP) is likely to affect future generations. It examines the implications these effects hold for evaluating HGP and other research efforts like it.

Recombinant DNA techniques have revolutionized the isolation and production of antibodies in recent years. This has resulted in rapid changes in how to handle antibodies for research. This new Practical Approach volume responds to this change by assembling, in one volume, protocols which allow the researcher to isolate a new antibody, analyse its properties, format the right antibody molecule or fragment, and produce it in usable quantities. The book is divided into two parts: the first describes the generation and analysis of antibodies and the second covers engineering and production. This timely book will be of interest to those involved in both clinical and molecular biological applications of antibodies.

The Human Genome Project, the most ambitious biological research program ever undertaken, was born in controversy. Heralded by its more enthusiastic proponents as a quest for the 'Holy Grail of biology' - and the key, ultimately, to the treatment of a variety of hereditary diseases - it has as its initial goal the mapping of all the genes in the entire three-billion-letter genetic code embodied in the DNA of a typical human cell. A major factor in the counterarguments of its opponents: its projected cost, estimated to run into the billions of dollars, spread over 10-20 years. In this firsthand account of the protracted struggle to launch the genome project, a close observer of that process - and sometime participant in it - unravels the tangled scientific and political threads of the story, relying on primary documents gathered even as events unfolded, supplemented by interviews with all the main actors - including the controversial first head of the National Institutes of Health genome effort, Nobel laureate James D. Watson. The result is an absorbing case study in the politics of modern science - focused in this case on a project with far-reaching medical and social implications.

With each species lost to the mass extinction crisis, the natural economy of the nation and of the world is greatly diminished. An endangered animal may hold the cure for cancer; a threatened plant could someday become a major food crop; and even bacteria often provide novel molecular structures in polymer science. As the rainforest is destroyed and habitats are degraded, conservationists are now urgently searching for dramatic new ways to save these economic resources.
In this provocative and important book, Joseph Henry Vogel details one potential solution that has met with increasing interest and popularity: the privatization of genetic information. Vogel cogently makes the case that the world should abandon the doctrine of "the common heritage of mankind" and create private property rights over genes. Landowners, once vested with the genetic resources on their land, will have a newfound financial incentive to protect what they now already control.
Genes for Sale provides an overview of the many complexities inherent in implementing a viable conservation policy. Vogel elaborates both technical issues like the construction of a "gargantuan database" of landtitles and biological inventories, and political issues like legal reform. Clearly written, engaging, and timely, Genes for Sale provides students, scientists, and policy makers alike with the ideal introduction to an exciting and controversial new approach to saving our precious living heritage.