Synopses & Reviews
Biotech companies are creating designer crops with strange powers-from cholesterol-reducing soybeans to tobacco plants that act as solar-powered pharmaceutical factories. They promise great benefits: better health for consumers and more productive agriculture. But the vision has a dark side. In Lords of the Harvest, Daniel Charles tells the real story behind "Frankenstein foods"-the story you won't hear from the biotech companies or their fiercest opponents. He reveals for the first time the cutthroat scientific competition and backroom business deals that led to the first genetically engineered foods. And he exposes the secrets of campaigns on both sides of the Atlantic aimed at bringing down the biotech industry. A riveting tale of boundless ambition, political intrigue, and the quest for knowledge, Lords of the Harvest is ultimately a story of idealism and conflicting dreams about the shape of a better world.
Synopsis
Once confined to the research laboratory, the genetic engineering of plants is now a big business that is changing the face of modern agriculture. Giant corporations are creating designer crops with strange powers from cholesterol-reducing soybeans to plants that act as miniature drug factories, churning out everything from vaccines to insulin. they promise great benefits: better health for consumers, more productive agriculture--even an end to world hunger. but the vision has a dark side, one of profit-driven tampering with life and the possible destruction of entire ecosystems. In Lords of the Harvest, Daniel Charles takes us deep inside research labs, farm sheds, and corporate boardrooms to reveal the hidden story behind this agricultural revolution.
Synopsis
A riveting tale of the battle over genetically engineered foods, and an inside look at a biotech food empire.
About the Author
Science reporter Daniel Charles has been a technology correspondent for National Public Radio and the Washington correspondent for New Scientist. He lives in Washington, D.C.