Beyond Evolution: The Genetically Altered Future of Plants, Animals, the Earth...and Humans

Laboratories around the world are experiencing a 'bioexplosion,' as they busily sequence, identify, and switch genes among different species. In Beyond Evolution, Dr. Michael Fox addresses the potential ramifications of this burst of technology. From the creation of herbicide-resistant soybeans to the splicing of human genes into pigs and goats, new developments in biotechnology pose serious questions: How has genetic engineering put animals' health at risk? What are the economic and biological consequences of a genetically altered future? Will this new technology mean the end of natural evolution? Without fostering 'biotechnophobia,' Fox investigates and discusses how a new world order - one based on genetic-engineering biotechnology - will affect the course of life on earth. From the state of agri-biotechnology (an estimated 60 percent of processed foods now contain genetically engineered ingredients) to concerns about genetic pollution and the loss of wildlife to the disruption of ecological and evolutionary processes, Fox presents a full picture of the life-science industry for public review. Supported with documented research reports throughout and including a helpful resource list of organizations concerned with biotechnology, this comprehensive book provides a critical, in-depth look at modern science's most controversial frontier. (6 1/4 X 9 1/4, 260 pages)… (more)