The Ecological Risks of Engineered Crops
What will it mean to have a steady stream of animal and microbial genes entering the gene pools of plants in wild ecosystems? Private companies and the federal government are pouring significant resources into biotechnology, and the major application of genetic engineering to agriculture is transgenic crops. This carefully reasoned science and policy assessment shows that the commercialization and release of transgenic crops on millions of acres of farmland can pose serious — and costly —...
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The authors propose a practical, feasible method of conducting precommercialization evaluations that will balance the needs of ecological safety with those of agriculture and business, and that will assist governments seeking to identify and protect against two of the most significant risks. Library Journal This book is an enlargement of the authors' earlier work, Perils Amidst the Promise: The Ecological Risks of Transgenic Plants in a Global Market (Union of Concerned Scientists, 1993). Rissler and Mellon, who hold staff positions in the UCS, acknowledge that applications of biotechnology in crops are already a commercial reality, and they do not oppose genetic engineering as a component of agriculture as a whole. Instead, they discuss a list of hypothetical harmful consequences of transgenic plants and suggest risk assessment methodology for two of these situations. Although part of the book's purpose is to generate public debate on the issues, the authors unfortunately do not present details of opposing viewpoints. For environment and agriculture collections.Jan Williams, Monsanto Co., St. Louis, Mo.
ForewordPrefaceAcknowledgments1Introduction12Understanding Transgenic Crops93Environmental Risks Posed by Transgenic Crops274Two Risk Scenarios: An Experimental Assessment715International Implications of Commercialization1116Conclusions and Recommendations121Appendix: Experimental Assessment of the Replacement Capacity of a Population of Plants129Glossary133Notes139References147Index161
\ Library JournalThis book is an enlargement of the authors' earlier work, Perils Amidst the Promise: The Ecological Risks of Transgenic Plants in a Global Market (Union of Concerned Scientists, 1993). Rissler and Mellon, who hold staff positions in the UCS, acknowledge that applications of biotechnology in crops are already a commercial reality, and they do not oppose genetic engineering as a component of agriculture as a whole. Instead, they discuss a list of hypothetical harmful consequences of transgenic plants and suggest risk assessment methodology for two of these situations. Although part of the book's purpose is to generate public debate on the issues, the authors unfortunately do not present details of opposing viewpoints. For environment and agriculture collections.Jan Williams, Monsanto Co., St. Louis, Mo.\ \
