Genetically Modified Planet Environmental Impacts of Genetically Engineered Plants

by Stewart, C. Neal

• ISBN13: 9780195157451
• ISBN10: 0195157451
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-08-19
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

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 whilethere are indeed real and potential risks of growing engineered crops, there are also real and overwhelmingly positive environmental benefits.

Author Biography

C. Neal Stewart, Jr., holds the Ratcheff Chair of Excellence in Plant Molecular Genetics at the University of Tennessee.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Catastrophic Calamities and Clucking Cacophonies	3	(8)
Crops and Weeds
It's Hard to Be a Wild Thing When You're Domesticated	11	(12)
Plant Biotechnology
The Magic of Making GM Plants	23	(16)
Gene Flow
It's a Weed, It's a Transgene, It's Superweed!	39	(34)
Contamination
Transgenes in Mexican Corn?	73	(14)
Killer Corn
Monarch Butterfly Exterminators?	87	(22)
Better Living through Biology
Not Killing the Good Insects by Accident	109	(20)
Bt Resistance Management
Getting Off the Treadmill	129	(14)
Swap Meet from Heck
Trading Sequences between Viruses and Transgenes	143	(10)
Superweeds Revisited
Tall Stacks of Transgenes and Waffling Gene Flow	153	(20)
Green and Greener
Environmentalism, Agriculture, and GM Plants	173	(22)
Futurama
Greenetic Engineering for a Greener Tomorrow	195	(18)
Conclusion
Out of Right Field and into Home	213	(12)
References	225	(12)
Index	237