High Tech Harvest: Understanding Genetically Modified Food Plants - Hardcover

Lurquin, Paul

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0813339464 ISBN 13: 9780813339467

Publisher: Basic Books, 2002

Synopsis

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? Biotech companies claim that engineered corn and canola are safe, but are they telling the truth? Should we, like the Europeans, be engaging in violent protests against biotechnology? 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.

About this title

About the Author

Dr. Paul Lurquin, Ph.D. is Professor of Genetics at the School of Molecular Biosciences, Washington State University. He is one of the pioneers of the science of plant genetic engineering and the author of The Green Phoenix: A History of Genetically Modified Plants (2001).

Reviews

Biologist Lurquin wants people to understand the scientific foundations of the current controversy over enhancing the quality and quantity of the world's food supply through genetic engineering. As Lurquin points out, humans have practiced genetic manipulation since prehistory when the first farmers crossbred grains to begin the practice of agriculture. He explains in great detail the nineteenth-century discoveries of Gregor Mendel that established the science of genetics. Since Mendel, researchers have gone on to uncover the fundamental chemical structures of cells. This knowledge has given birth to the field of genetic engineering, whereby technicians transfer genes wholesale from one species to another, affording massive new possibilities in plant production. Lurquin doesn't view these new techniques as intrinsically unsound, and he opposes wholesale condemnation of genetic engineering. This book's focus on scientific issues as opposed to political posturing gives it a substantive voice in the current noisy debate over genetic manipulation of the foods we all eat. Mark Knoblauch
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Edition details

• Publisher: Basic Books
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0813339464
• ISBN 13: 9780813339467
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 240