Redesigning Life? The Worldwide Challenge to Genetic Engineering

by Tokar, Brian

• ISBN13: 9781856498357
• ISBN10: 1856498352
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-05-04
• Publisher: ZED BOOKS

Summary

In today's world genetic engineering, animal cloning and new reproductive technologies are being promoted as the keys to a brighter future. But plenty of farmers, scientists, and concerned citizens disagree. Growing evidence shows that genetically engineered foods are hazardous to our health and the environment. Animal cloning and human genetic engineering raise troubling ethical questions. This book examines the hidden hazards, and controversy, of these new genetic technologies.

Author Biography

Brian Tokar has been an activist since the 1970s, and is curently a faculty member at Goddard College and the Institute for Social Ecology in Vermont.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Challenging Biotechnology	1	(16)
Brian Tokar
PART I OUR HEALTH, OUR FOOD AND THE ENVIRONMENT	17	(110)
From Golden Rice to Terminator Technology: Agricultural Biotechnology Will Not Feed the World or Save the Environment	22	(18)
Martha L. Crouch
Genetically Engineered ``Vitamin A Rice'': A Blind Approach to Blindness Prevention	40	(4)
Vandana Shiva
Cloning Profits: The Revolution in Agricultural Biotechnology	44	(7)
Sonja A. Schmitz
Genetically Engineered Foods: A Minefield of Safety Hazards	51	(16)
Jennifer Ferrara
Michael K. Dorsey
Safety First	67	(8)
Beth Burrows
Ecological Consequences of Genetic Engineering	75	(28)
Ricarda A. Steinbrecher
Biotechnology to the Rescue? Ten Reasons Why Biotechnology is Incompatible with Sustainable Agriculture	103	(8)
Jack Kloppenburg, Jr
Beth Burrows
From Native Forest to Frankenforest	111	(16)
Orin Langelle
PART II MEDICAL GENETICS, SCIENCE AND HUMAN RIGHTS	127	(90)
The Case against Designer Babies: The Politics of Genetic Enhancement	133	(17)
Marcy Darnovsky
Cancer is (not) a Genetic Disease	150	(8)
Barbara Katz Rothman
If Cloning is the Answer, What was the Question? Genetics and the Politics of Human Health	158	(13)
Sarah Sexton
Eugenic Tendencies in Modern Genetics	171	(11)
David King
If Pigs Could Fly, They Would: The Problems with Xenotransplantation	182	(13)
Alix Fano
Reproductive Technology: Welcome to the Brave New World	195	(10)
Zoe C. Meleo-Erwin
Is Violence in Your Genes? The Violence Initiative Project: Coming Soon to an Inner City Near You	205	(12)
Mitchel Cohen
PART III PATENTS, CORPORATE POWER AND THE THEFT OF KNOWLEDGE AND RESOURCES	217	(98)
Gene Giants: Understanding the ``Life Industry''	222	(16)
Hope Shand
Patents, Ethics and Spin	238	(14)
Beth Burrows
Biotechnology and Indigenous Peoples	252	(19)
Victoria Tauli-Corpuz
Shams, Shamans and the Commercialization of Biodiversity	271	(12)
Michael K. Dorsey
Biopiracy: The Theft of Knowledge and Resources	283	(7)
Vandana Shiva
Exclusive Rights, Enclosure and the Patenting of Life	290	(7)
Kimberly A. Wilson
Paving the Way for Biotechnology: Federal Regulations and Industry PR	297	(9)
Jennifer Ferrara
Biotechnology and the New World Order	306	(9)
Mitchel Cohen
PART IV THE WORLDWIDE RESISTANCE TO GENETIC ENGINEERING	315	(105)
Resisting the Engineering of Life	320	(17)
Brian Tokar
Princes, Aliens, Superheroes and Snowballs: The Playful World of the UK Genetic Resistance	337	(14)
Jim Thomas
Seed Satyagraha: A Movement for Farmers' Rights and Freedoms in a World of Intellectual Property Rights, Globalized Agriculture and Biotechnology	351	(10)
Vandana Shiva
Europe: Hostile Lands for GMOs	361	(12)
Thomas G. Schweiger
No Patents on Life: The Incredible Ten-year Campaign against the European Patent Directive	373	(12)
Steve Emmott
No to Bovine Growth Hormone: Ten Years of Resistance in Canada	385	(12)
Lucy Sharratt
Cooperatives: A Source of Community Strength	397	(8)
Robin Seydel
McDonald's, MTV and Monsanto: Resisting Biotechnology in the Age of Informational Capital	405	(15)
Chaia Heller
Resources for Information and Action	420	(6)
Contributors	426	(3)
Index	429