Eat your genes: how genetically modified food is entering our diet

Abstract

Introduction 1. A Brief History of Genetic Improvement in Agriculture - Artificial selection - The laws of inheritance - The Green Revolution - Plant breeding and genetic engineering - The scale of transgenic plant releases to the environment - Biotechnology: transgenic bacteria and fungi - Genetic modifications to animals and fish 2. What is Genetic Engineering? - DNA - Protein synthesis - Jumping genes - Enzymes: the genetic engineer's toolkit - Methods of gene transfer to crop plants - Viral vectors and gene regulation - Bacterial vectors: the Agrobacterium method - Gene guns - Gene silencing - Plant tissue culture - Marker genes - Gene libraries 3. Milking It: Increasing Yields and the Pharming of Proteins - Recombinant Bovine Somatotropin (rBST) - The pharming of transgenic animals - Dolly the sheep and animal cloning 4. Herbicide Resistant Crops - Advantages for weed control - Achieving herbicide resistance - Monsanto's Roundup ReadyTm crops - Environmental considerations 5. Insect Resistant Crops and a Modified Insect Baculovirus - Bacillus thuringiensis toxin - Ciba Geigys B.t. maize - Protease inhibitors and lectins - Pyramiding genes - Benefits for insect control - Resistance management - Baculovirus: engineering a quicker kill 6. Designer Food and Engineered Plants - Modifications for food processing and taste - Oilseed composition - Protein content - Viral resistance - Fungal resistance - Nematode resistance - Photosynthesis and nitrogen fixation - Tolerance to high salinity and other poor soil conditions - Tolerance to drought conditions - Tolerance to frost: ice minus bacteria and antifreeze proteins - Drugs and Vaccines - Engineering Cotton: Blue genes and plastic plants 7. Ecological Risks - Risk assessment - Risks posed by transgenic micro-organisms - Risks posed by virus resistant crops - Risk of Invasion and adverse effects on other organisms - The Risk of transgene spread 8. Risks to Human Health - Allergens - Antibiotic resistant micro-organisms 9. Some Ethical and Moral Issues - Ethically sensitive genes - Animal Welfare - Is DNA life? 10. The Lucrative Art of Patenting - Patenting plants - Species-wide patents - Inter-firm cooperation agreements - Gene licencing agreements - The decline of independent seed companies - The GATT and the MAIs: Free trade and global rights for multinationals - Intellectual property rights and genetic resources from the Third World 11. Regulation of Genetically Modified Organisms and Food Products - The regulatory framework in the USA - The regulatory framework in the UK 12. Marketing Approval for Genetically Modified Foods in Europe - Decision making in the European Community - Monsanto's Roundup ReadyTm soybeans - Ciba Geigy's B.t. maize - A new wave of crops 13. The Consuming Question of Labelling - Lessons from irradiated food - The case against mandatory labelling: the food is no different - The case for mandatory labelling: the consumer's right to choose - Europe decides - Negative labelling and organic food 14. Impacts on the Third World - Transgenic crops and the world's hungry - Transgenic crops: chemical dependency or sustainable agriculture? - Economic Impacts 15. Prospects for Genetically Modified Food - Who benefits? - Perceived risks and benefits - The battle for hearts and minds