Genetically modified planet : environmental impacts of genetically engineered plants / C. Neal Stewart, Jr.

Format:

• Book

Author/Creator:

• Stewart, C. Neal, Jr.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

• Transgenic plants.
• Plant genetic engineering.
• Transgenic plants--Ecology.
• Plant genetic engineering--Environmental aspects.
• Ecology.

Physical Description:

x, 240 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2004.

Summary:

Genetically modified plants are currently causing controversy worldwide; a great deal has been written about their supposed environmental effects. However, the newspaper headlines and public debates often provide a level of reasoning akin to "this is your brain on genetically modified corn," which is to say, they exclude or exaggerate the actual scientific research on the impacts of these plants. Genetically Modified Planet goes beyond the rhetoric to investigate for concerned consumers the actual state of scientific research on genetically modified plants. Stewart argues that while there are indeed real and potential risks of growing engineered crops, there are also real and overwhelmingly positive environmental benefits.

Contents:

• 1. Introduction: Catastrophic Calamities and Clucking Cacophonies 3
• 2. Crops and Weeds: It's Hard to Be a Wild Thing When You're Domesticated 11
• 3. Plant Biotechnology: The Magic of Making GM Plants 23
• 4. Gene Flow: It's a Weed, It's a Transgene, It's Superweed! 39
• 5. Contamination: Transgenes in Mexican Corn? 73
• 6. Killer Corn: Monarch Butterfly Exterminators? 87
• 7. Better Living through Biology: Not Killing the Good Insects by Accident 109
• 8. Bt Resistance Management: Getting Off the Treadmill 129
• 9. Swap Meet from Heck: Trading Sequences between Viruses and Transgenes 143
• 10. Superweeds Revisited: Tall Stacks of Transgenes and Waffling Gene Flow 153
• 11. Green and Greener: Environmentalism, Agriculture, and GM Plants 173
• 12. Futurama: Greenetic Engineering for a Greener Tomorrow 195
• 13. Conclusion: Out of Right Field and into Home 213.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 225-236) and index.

ISBN:

0195157451

OCLC:

53162542