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Redesigning Life Brian Tokar

Redesigning Life By Brian Tokar

Redesigning Life by Brian Tokar


$22.49
Condition - Good
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Summary

Genetic engineering, animal cloning and new reproductive technologies are being promoted as keys to a brighter future. This book offers an examination of the hidden hazards of the new genetic technologies, and the emergence of worldwide resistance to the new biotechnologies.

Redesigning Life Summary

Redesigning Life: The Worldwide Challenge to Genetic Engineering by Brian Tokar

Today we appear to be on the threshold of the Age of Biotechnology. Genetic engineering, animal cloning and new reproductive technologies are being promoted as the keys to a brighter future. Genetic engineers promise a more productive agriculture, wondrous medical miracles and solutions to our most pressing environmental problems. But growing numbers of farmers, scientists and concerned citizens disagree. There is growing evidence that genetically engineered foods are hazardous to our health and the environment. Farmers all over the world encounter an increasingly monopolized seed and agrichemical industry. Animal cloning and human genetic engineering raise troubling ethical questions. And genes from plants, animals and humans have become objects to bought, sold and patented by private interests. A growing worldwide resistance to genetic engineering and other new biotechnologies has brought these issues to the forefront of public controversy in many countries. This book offers the first comprehensive examination of the hidden hazards of the new genetic technologies, and the emergence of worldwide resistance. Twenty-six internationally respected critics offer their analysis of the issues, their social and ethical implications, and what people are doing in response. Redesigning Life? is essential reading for everyone who seeks to understand the full story that lies behind today's headlines.

Redesigning Life Reviews

'The hazards of genetic engineering are among the most critical threats facing us. Knowledge is power. This book gives us power.' Frances Moore Lappe, author, Diet for A Small Planet 'Biotechnology is truly revolutionary. But it is far from a precise science and the alliance of government, industry and universities to profit from genetic engineering has resulted in extravagant claims of benefits that are highly speculative. This book provides a welcome perspective that is missing from all the biotechnology hype. For anyone concerned about the real implications and potential hazards of gene manipulation, it is an excellent starting point.' David Suzuki 'This book explains why and how genetic engineering is adversely affecting our food, health, environment and human rights. It also shows what people are doing to counter the technology and the industry. It must be read by the public everywhere and by policymakers, especially in developing countries.' Martin Khor, director of the Third World Network 'In this wide-ranging collection, scientists and activists discuss the pressing issues growing out of the wanton commercialization of the life sciences. The authors illustrate the dangers inherent in the unfettered manipulation of plant, animal and human biology for health and societal wellbeing. They also document the growing worldwide resistance to attempts to engineer life in all its forms. An excellent guide to the brave new world of genetic engineering.' Ruth Hubbard, Professor Emerita of Biology at Harvard University and Board Member of the Council for Responsible Genetics 'The biotechnology industry has taken us beyond natural evolution into the unknown terrain of a never-to-be-natural-again world. We know nothing of the long-term biological, ecological, economic, public health and animal welfare impacts of this new technology. This book, with its excellent and wide-ranging coverage of this complex subject, will help us awaken to the costs and potentially harmful, even catastrophic, consequences.' Michael W. Fox, The Humane Society of the United States, Washington, DC 'We are involved in a global war called genetic engineering. Most of us are totally unprepared to fight this war. Reading Redesigning Life is mandatory if you want you and your offspring to enjoy life as we have known it.' Howard F. Lyman, president of EarthSave International 'A cutting edge critique of today's headlong rush toward genetic engineering and the ways in which a few corporate "gene giants" are dominating global food supplies and pirating the planet's biodiversity, the human genome and the keys to life itself.' Hazel Henderson, author of Beyond Globalization

About Brian Tokar

Brian Tokar has been an activist since the 1970s in the peace, anti-nuclear, environmental and green politics movements, and is currently a faculty member at Goddard College and the Institute for Social Ecology in Vermont. He is the author of The Green Alternative: Creating an Ecological Future (1987, revised 1992) and Earth for Sale: Reclaiming Ecology in the Age of Corporate Greenwash (1997), and was the recipient of a 1999 Project Censored award for his investigative history of the Monsanto company (The Ecologist, Sept./Oct. 1998). He serves on the national boards of the Native Forest Network and the Edmonds Institute, and sat on the National Committee of the Greens/Green Party USA for several years. Brian graduated from MIT in 1976 with degrees in biology and physics and received his Masters degree in biophysics from Harvard University in 1981. He is a founder member of the Northeast Resistance Against Genetic Engineering.

Table of Contents

  • Introduction: Challenging Biotechnology - Brian Tokar
  • Part I: Our Health, Our Food and the Environment
    • 1. From Golden Rice to Terminator Technology - Martha L. Crouch
    • 2. Genetically Engineered 'Vitamin A Rice': - Vandana Shiva
    • 3. Cloning Profits: The Revolution in Agricultural Biotechnology - Sonja Schmitz
    • 4. Genetically Engineered Foods: A Minefield of Safety Hazards - Jennifer Ferrara and Michael K. Dorsey
    • 5. Safety First: Controlling the Risks of Biotechnology - Beth Burrows
    • 6. Ecological Consequences of Genetic Engineering - Ricarda Steinbrecher
    • 7. Biotechnology to the Rescue? - Jack Kloppenburg Jr. and Beth Burrows
    • 8. Engineered Trees: From Native Forest to Frankenforest - Orin Langelle
  • Part II: Medical Genetics, Science, and Human Rights
    • 9. The Case Against Designer Babies- Marcy Darnovsky
    • 10. Cancer as (Not) a Genetic Disease - Barbara Katz Rothman
    • 11. If Cloning is the Answer, What was the Question? - Sarah Sexton
    • 12. Eugenic Tendencies in Modern Genetics - David King
    • 13. If Pigs Could Fly, They Would: The Problems of Xenotransplantation - Alix Fano
    • 14. Reproductive Technology: Welcome to the Brave New World - Zoe C. Meleo-Erwin
    • 15. Is Violence in Your Genes? - Mitchel Cohen
  • Part III: Patents, Corporate Power and the Theft of Knowledge
    • 16. Gene Giants: Understanding the Life Industry - Hope Shand
    • 17. Patents, Ethics and Spin - Beth Burrows
    • 18. Biotechnology and Indigenous Peoples - Victoria Tauli-Corpuz
    • 19. Shams, Shamans and the Commercialization of Biodiversity - Michael K. Dorsey
    • 20. Biopiracy: The Theft of Biological Knowledge and Resources - Vandana Shiva
    • 21. Exclusive Rights, Enclosure and the Patenting of Life - Kimberly Wilson
    • 22. Paving the Way for Biotechnology: Federal Regulations and Industry P.R. - Jennifer Ferrara
    • 23. Biotechnology and the New World Order - Mitchel Cohen
  • Part IV: The Worldwide Resistence to Genetic Engineering
    • 24. Resisting the Engineering of Life - Brian Tokar
    • 25. Princes, Aliens, Superheroes and Snowballs - Jim Thomas
    • 26. Seed Satyagraha: A Movement for Farmers' Rights and Freedoms in a World of Intellectual Property Rights, Globalized Agriculture and Biotechnology - Vandana Shiva
    • 27. Europe: Hostile Lands for GMOs: Why do Europeans Reject Genetic Engineering More Fiercely than Americans? - Thomas Schweiger
    • 28. No Patents on Life - Steve Emmott
    • 29. No to Bovine Growth Hormone - Lucy Sharratt
    • 30. Cooperatives: A Source of Community Strength - Robin Seydel
    • 31. McDonalds, MTV, and Monsanto - Chaia Heller
  • Bibliography
  • Index

Additional information

GOR007293036
9781856498357
1856498352
Redesigning Life: The Worldwide Challenge to Genetic Engineering by Brian Tokar
Used - Good
Paperback
Zed Books Ltd
2001-02-01
448
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. Overall we expect it to be in good condition, but if you are not entirely satisfied please get in touch with us

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